Implement Rayamajhi Commission report to end culture of impunity: Rights activists

Human rights activists and politicians have asked the government to implement the report of Rayamajhi Commission to end the culture of impunity and for protection of human rights.

Speaking at an interaction organised by Human Rights and Peace Society (HURPES) to mark the 58th International Human Rights Day today, the participants said protection and promotion of human rights is impossible without ending the culture of impunity.

Civil Society leader and Human Rights activist Krishna Pahari (extreme right)..

Speaking at the interaction, civil society leader and human rights activist Krishna Pahadi said the government should take action against the King as per the recommendation of the Rayamajhi Commission to prove that it is working to end the culture of impunity.

The high level commission headed by former Supreme Court Justice Krishna Jung Rayamajhi, formed to probe the atrocities committed to suppress the April movement recommended action against 202 people including King Gyanendra for their role in the brutal clampdown in the movement.

Pahadi also urged the Maoists to display democratic political character and immediately stop their forceful activities. This is necessary to hold the election of the constituent assembly in a free and fair manner, he said, urging the ruling seven-party alliance to go for the democratic republican set-up as per the people’s aspiration expressed in the people’s movement. People might even stand against the SPA if it fails to address the people’s aspiration, he warned.

Paradi further said the delay in holding the election to constituent assembly would provide opportunity to regressive forces to hatch conspiracy against the CA polls.

Former secretary Bijaya Raj Bhattrai and former chairman of Nepal Engineers Association also urged the government to implement the report of Rayamajhi commission and take action against all those held responsible for atrocities during the people’s movement.

They also added that the civil society should pressurise the government to implement the report.

Speaking at the same programme, member of the government talks team and Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Pradip Gyawali expressed confidence that the government would implement the Rayamajhi Commission report.

Saying that the political parties made a blunder by not implementing the report of Mallik Commission, Gyawali said that they would not repeat the mistake this time.

He also asked the Maoists to be serious about implementing all the agreements signed with the SPA government.

Claiming that the government was seriously trying to end the culture of impunity, minister Gyawali said the government and the Maoists agreed to form Truth and Reconciliation Commission for protection and promotion of human rights.

Another member of the government talks team and minister of state for Labour and Transport Management, Ramesh Lekhak, said that implementing all the agreements is a major challenge and the need of the hour and urged all rights activists to caution for effective implementation of it.

Similarly, general secretary of Nepali Congress Ram Chandra Poudel said that if all the agreements reached between the government and Maoists were implemented effectively, it would help end the impunity and protect human rights.

Violation of the comprehensive peace accord would only help regressive forces and urged Maoists to stop their excesses, Poudel warned.

The International Human Rights Day is observed on 10 December, the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in1948.

Meanwhile, coinciding with the Human Rights Day, the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) launched a two-year Asian Human Rights Day Campaign: Ratify, Remove, Report and Remedy, together with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society groups throughout Asia to pressurise the governments of Asia to ratify all core international human rights treaties and the Optional Protocols, remove reservations entered to international human rights treaties, submit their reports regularly and on time to the Treaty Bodies and to implement the obligation to promote and protect human rights.

A press statement issued by the FORUM-ASIA said, “This campaign will be held every year on Human Rights Day until 2008, culminating in the dual commemoration of the 60th anniversary or the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the 10th anniversary of the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to promote and protect universally recognised Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.” nepalnews.com pb Dec 10 06