by Kalpit Parajuli

The Informal Sector Service Centre accuses the government of not punishing offenders and political parties of protecting criminals. In its 2010 Human Rights Yearbook report, the human rights watchdog documents 2,946 cases of human rights violations. Nepali PM dismisses the accusations, saying group failed to take into consideration the government’s actions.

Kathmandu (AsiaNews) – Nepal’s human rights situation is steadily deteriorating, this according to a study by the Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) Nepal, a local watchdog that accuses the government of failing to punish offenders and political parties of protecting criminals. For his part, Nepali Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal says that INSEC’s report fails to take into consideration the progress achieved by the country in the area of human rights.

Released last Saturday, the 2010 Human Rights Yearbook documents 2,946 cases of human rights violations, and slams the government for not enforcing laws and regulations. The study also notes a trend whereby criminals are receiving political protection.  According to the human rights watchdog, armed gangs are involved in rapes, kidnappings and murder in the Terai, a region at the base of the Himalaya range.

The report lays blame for the situation at the feet of a number of political parties, namely the Maoist United Communist Party of Nepal (UCPN); the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML), which is the main party in the ruling government coalition; the Nepali Congress (NC), also a member of the ruling coalition, the Madheshi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) and the Tarai-Madhesh Loktantrik Party (TMLP). All of them are accused of bias and of covering up human rights violations by their youth wings.

Nepali Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal dismissed the accusations, saying that the human rights watchdog focused only on the negative aspects of the situation, without taking into account the efforts of the government to remedy it.

For example, the prime minister cites the example of the attack against the Catholic Cathedral of the Assumption in Lalitpur, which caused the death of three worshippers on 23 May last, and traumatised religious minorities. He noted that the culprits were apprehended, adding that “it was regrettable that” INSEC did not consider the “government’s good work in ending impunity”.

The Nepali parliament ratified the Accession Bill on the Rome Statute in 2006 but the cabinet has not yet approved it. Under the terms of the statute, Nepal would have to include crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide and aggression in its domestic law.

The European Union has urged Nepal to adopt the necessary legislation by next May because it would set a precedent in the region.

Indeed, India and China have yet to ratify the treaty.

 

• nepal
• human
• rights
• democracy
• european
• union
• international
• tribunal
• criminal
• violence