National 2 (Spotlight Weekly)

Year Of Gloom

The intensification of the Maoist's assaults and the government's counter-attacks triggered widespread rights abuses in 2002

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

The Human Rights Yearbook 2003 confirms what the country has been saying all along: 2002 broke all records in the abuse of human rights in Nepal. News reports of people being killed, women being raped, children being orphaned were all too frequent last year.

According to the Human Rights Yearbook 2003, published by Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC), the abuse of human rights rose sharply in 2002, with 8,878 cases of recorded incidents.

Rights activists : Rising concerns

Fifty-two percent of the victims were abused by the Maoist rebels, 38 percent by the state and 10 percent by others, according to the yearbook. Among the 8,000 people killed during the seven years of insurgency, a whopping 4,952 lost their lives in 2002 alone. Among them, 3,297 were killed by the state and 1,359 by the rebels. This is an astronomical rise compared to 2001, when 244 people were killed by the state and 390 by the Maoists. Terming the year 2002 as a "dark" one in terms of human rights, the yearbook castigates the government for a large number of abuses.

The yearbook states that among the 36,392 people who suffered various forms of rights abuses in the period, 1,515 were female. Caste-wise, Chhetris suffered most, followed by Brahmins and indigenous people. The yearbook denounces both the government and the Maoists for not respecting minimum human rights in the course of their battles. "Nepal is signatory to one and a half dozen conventions on human rights, the incidents in the year 2002 broke all those commitments. These incidents will be obstruction to development and peace in the country," states the yearbook.

"In the seven years since the Maoists launched their people's war, more than 8,000 have been killed. About 67 percent were killed by the state and 33 percent by the Maoists. The government has been unable to become responsible while the Maoists are abusing human rights using their guns," states the yearbook.

Listing the major incidents of rights abuses in the period, the yearbook points to widespread violations of human dignity during the emergency period, injustice, corruption as well as the government's move to fix prize on the head of Maoist leaders.

"This year, the situation of women, elderly and children further deteriorated. The government imposed emergency and flouted its own laws. The Maoists broke all limits of cruelty," said Subodh Pyakurel, general secretary of the organization.

The yearbook also mentions that in 2002, Nepal underwent the most severe destruction of physical infrastructure in its history.

The steep and disturbing rise in the incidents of human rights abuse has concerned not only rights activists and civil society but even the international community. The governments of the United States and the United Kingdom have made it clear that their support will depend also on the state's record in respecting human rights.

The Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) has formed a Human Rights Cell to monitor, control and prevent rights abuses by its soldiers. Similar cells are formed in the Nepal Police, Home Ministry and Armed Police Force.

"The government is serious about protecting the fundamental human rights. Just recently, the government admitted its wrongdoing in an accident where five teenagers were killed mistakenly in Kahule, Nuwakot. The families of these victims have been promised due compensation," said a senior army official.

Apart from the massive loss of life and property, 2002 also marked the denial of basic rights of citizens to move around freely, with the Maoists imposing violent Nepal Bandhs and the government imposing restrictions of movement in some parts of the country. Furthermore, the Maoists' student wing organized a week-long closure of schools in the country, denying the basic right of children to go to school.

With the cease-fire in place and peace talks looking imminent, human rights activists are fervently hoping that 2003 will not have to witness similar abuses.