National 1 (Spotlight Weekly)

Promises To Keep

The government comes up with fairly comprehensive commitment to protect human rights, now it has to put it into practice

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

PM Thapa : All eyes on implementation

Amid widespread accusations of excesses and rights abuses by its security forces, the government has come up with a fresh set of its commitments to abide by the domestic as well as international humanitarian laws.

In a special function held in Singh Durbar on March 26, Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa outlined the government’s commitment to protect and promote human rights in the face of growing armed conflict in the country.

PM Thapa expressed government commitment to abide by the Constitutional provisions and the international human rights conventions to which Nepal is a party. The commitment has come at a time when there were growing criticisms from rights activists regarding the conduct of government forces.

The government’s commitment has 25 points including promises to end the practice of ‘disappearing’. It has also laid down clear provisions regarding detention of any suspect and how they should be treated while in detention.

Rights activists have welcomed the commitment but have added that real test lies in its implementation. National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) as well as the heads of Mission of European Union (EU) and other rights bodies have welcomed the government’s commitment to implement the human rights and international humanitarian laws.

“The commitment has come as reaffirmation to protect human rights of all citizens. This is a welcome move,” said Bipin Adhikari, a human rights lawyer.

But the activists agree that the real test lies in the implementation. “All these points of commitment are already there in constitution, laws and international conventions. The government will have to abide by them in actual reality,” said a rights activist.

Many national and international organizations including the London-based Amnesty International (AI) have criticized the growing practice of ‘disappearances’ or illegal detention of suspected rebels by the government. The government had been taken to task by the rights organizations in this issue.

In order to counter the charges, the government, in its rights commitment, has highlighted its promise to control the situation vis-à-vis disappearances. “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. Measures will be undertaken to prevent illegal or arbitrary detention and forced disappearances,” the commitment states.

Likewise, the government has also promised to inform the detainee the reason for his/her arrest. “A detainee shall be informed of the reason for the arrest. No one shall be arrested during the night except in accordance with the prevailing laws. Information about the whereabouts of the detainee and his/her transfer shall be made available to the members of his/her family, legal practitioner and the person eligible to receive such information. Every place of detention will maintain a register containing the name of every person detained and the dates of entry, discharge or transfer,” it further states.

In the past even the National Human Rights Organization (NHRC) had roundly criticized the government for the growing cases of ‘disappearances’. It had said that it received around 700 complaints of such incidents.

The government has also decided to set up a high level Human Rights Protection Committee to facilitate human rights monitoring and investigations by the NHRC and to help implement its recommendations. The committee will carry out the function of giving immediate effect to the orders and decision of judiciary, among others. And it will also recommend compensation for the victims. In the past couple of months, there have been growing cases where court orders had remained un-implemented.

The government rights commitment comes at a time when the 60th session of the United Nations Commission for the Human Rights is going on in Geneva, Switzerland. Likewise, it also comes a month before the Nepal Development Forum (NDF) is meeting in Kathmandu where international donor countries will take stock of Nepal’s overall situation including its track record in human rights protection.