Added At: 2011-01-24 6:31 PM
Last Updated At: 2011-01-24 6:31 PM
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The last time Nepal created a splash for its human rights situation was in 2005, soon after King Gyanendra seized absolute power through a military-backed coup, declared a state of emergency and began to wage war on the political parties and the media.
KATHMANDU: The human rights situation of Nepal is going to come under international arc-light this week with the UN Human Rights Council to review it in Geneva at the three-day Universal Periodic Review (UPR) starting from Tuesday, according to a report on The Times Of India website.
While the report tabled by the caretaker government will highlight achievements and play down abuse allegations, it is however going to be stiffly challenged by the counter reports forwarded by human rights organisations, which paint a dismal picture.
A 10-page parallel report submitted by the National Human Rights Commission in collaboration with the Women's Commission and National Dalit Commission says the situation is not encouraging even two years after Nepal became a republic. A more scathing attack on the prevailing culture of impunity and lawlessness comes from a coalition of nearly 250 rights groups.
According to Subodh Raj Pyakurel, focal person for the Nepal NGO Coalition for the UPR, though the republic is a party to many important international treaty bodies, implementing them remains a big challenge.
"The review has to challenge the non-implementing tendency of the government of Nepal," Pyakurel said. "Human rights can't be attained until and unless impunity is addressed through the rule of law. Redressing past crimes through the penal system and addressing caste, gender and descent-based discriminations by formulating necessary rules and regulations should also come under the rule of law. Correcting social discriminations and implementing social justice through progressive efforts in law and practice is urgent now."
The last time Nepal created a splash for its human rights situation was in 2005, soon after King Gyanendra seized absolute power through a military-backed coup, declared a state of emergency and began to wage war on the political parties and the media. The royal regime avoided sanctions and censure by agreeing to allow the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to set up office in Nepal.
Today, almost five years after the ouster of the royal government, end of a decade of Maoist insurgency and restoration of democracy, a succession of governments has still failed to punish the state and Maoist workers responsible for gross human rights abuses. They also failed to form a commission to punish war crimes and a second to unearth the fate of over 1,000 people missing since the "People's War". Gender and caste-based violence are on the rise and last year, which caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal officially pledged to result in the end of violence against women, saw the highest number of rapes, dowry murders and battering of wives to death.
While the report tabled by the caretaker government will highlight achievements and play down abuse allegations, it is however going to be stiffly challenged by the counter reports forwarded by human rights organisations, which paint a dismal picture.
A 10-page parallel report submitted by the National Human Rights Commission in collaboration with the Women's Commission and National Dalit Commission says the situation is not encouraging even two years after Nepal became a republic. A more scathing attack on the prevailing culture of impunity and lawlessness comes from a coalition of nearly 250 rights groups.
According to Subodh Raj Pyakurel, focal person for the Nepal NGO Coalition for the UPR, though the republic is a party to many important international treaty bodies, implementing them remains a big challenge.
"The review has to challenge the non-implementing tendency of the government of Nepal," Pyakurel said. "Human rights can't be attained until and unless impunity is addressed through the rule of law. Redressing past crimes through the penal system and addressing caste, gender and descent-based discriminations by formulating necessary rules and regulations should also come under the rule of law. Correcting social discriminations and implementing social justice through progressive efforts in law and practice is urgent now."
The last time Nepal created a splash for its human rights situation was in 2005, soon after King Gyanendra seized absolute power through a military-backed coup, declared a state of emergency and began to wage war on the political parties and the media. The royal regime avoided sanctions and censure by agreeing to allow the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to set up office in Nepal.
Today, almost five years after the ouster of the royal government, end of a decade of Maoist insurgency and restoration of democracy, a succession of governments has still failed to punish the state and Maoist workers responsible for gross human rights abuses. They also failed to form a commission to punish war crimes and a second to unearth the fate of over 1,000 people missing since the "People's War". Gender and caste-based violence are on the rise and last year, which caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal officially pledged to result in the end of violence against women, saw the highest number of rapes, dowry murders and battering of wives to death.
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