Number of torture victims on the rise: Rights groups

The number of torture victims is ever increasing due to the nine-year-old armed conflict, organisations working in the areas of eradication of torture have said.

According to the Centre for Victims of Torture (CVICT) Nepal, up to 16,000 families in Nepal are subject to torture every year thereby affecting some 100,00 people. In some of the cases, entire population in some districts was terrorized using torture.

The premier organisation—that provides treatment, psycho-social counseling and rehabilitation services to torture victims-- said the situation is getting worse with both the sides in Nepali conflict increasingly resorting to practices like torture.

According to rights groups, the number of torture victims has gone up in the aftermath of the royal takeover but the number of reported cases has declined.

Executive director of Advocacy Forum, Mandira Sharma, has said it is mainly because of the overall situation of “impunity” and absence of rule of law that has contributed to increase in torture cases.

Nepal had signed on the UN Convention Against Torture (CAT) in 1991 but activists say it is yet to harmonise CAT provisions into the country’s law. nepalnews.com by June 26 05i

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