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| Kathmandu, Friday January 24, 2003 Magh 10, 2059. |
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UNHCR presses for
prosecution of sexual abuse offenders
Hopes speedy resolution of refugee impasse
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Jan 23 : Inspector General from the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Dennis McNamara, who was in Nepal
recently, expressed hopes of a comprehensive solution to the Bhutanese refugee problem,
according to a press information officer of the UN body.
A statement issued today by Melita H Sunjic,
Senior Press Information Officer of UNHCR, Nepal, said that McNamara was hopeful that a
comprehensive solution could be worked out with the support of all the concerned
governments. Nepal and Bhutan have been at loggerheads for the past two years over the
protracted refugee issue. McNamara will be discussing these issues with the UNHCR chief,
Ruud Lubbers and the Director of the Bureau, Jean-Marie Fakhouri.
McNamara was here to take the stock of the
situation vis-à-vis the abuse investigation. He left for Geneva today, according to
Sunjic. The Inspector General was accompanied by Vincent Cochetel and Diane Goodman, the
head and the member of an earlier investigation team, that came here last October to probe
charges of sexual abuse against refugee women and children.
IG McNamara held discussions with the government
officials, diplomats and UN representatives in Kathmandu. He also met the Foreign and the
Home Ministers. During his meetings, McNamara urged NGOs and government partners to take
appropriate disciplinary and criminal action against the perpetrators.
The UNHCR has also pressed the Nepal government
for prosecuting the 18 offenders of sexual abuse of Bhutanese refugee women and children,
said press officer Sunjic. She added that the UN body was in touch with the local Bar
Council in Jhapa district to discuss the prosecution of the offenders.
Speaking to The Kathmandu Post today, she said
that the UN agency was in touch with the Nepal government so as to ensure the prosecution
of the alleged offenders. "We have spoken to all the victims and have begun their
counselling," said Sunjic. She added that the visit of the Inspector General, showed
that the UNHCR was deeply concerned by the happenings in the seven camps run by it in
eastern Nepal.
Earlier an expose of inaction of the UN body,
made by The Kathmandu Post, compelled the UNHCR Paris-based headquarters to recall its
country chief Michel Dupoizat and Protection Officer Roland Francois-Weil, the Protection
Officer. A seven-member team headed by Abraham Abraham, Officer-in-Charge of UNHCR, Nepal
was hurriedly sent as replacement.
Cochetel and Goodman had conducted an
investigation on October last year and reported 18 specific cases of sexual and domestic
abuse against refugee women and children in the camps between June 2001 and October 2002.
Sunjic reiterated that investigation would also cover the pre-June 2001 period.
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