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POLITICS: Nepal Bracing For U.N. Human Rights Monitors
By Suman Pradhan
KATHMANDU, Apr 22 (IPS) - Nepal is bracing for an invasion by international human rights monitors in the wake of
strong condemnations of its rights record at the 61st session of the U.N. Human Rights
Commission in Geneva that ended Friday.
Knowledgeable sources within the U.N. system in Nepal indicate that several dozen
international rights monitors under the aegis of the Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights (OHCHR) are expected to arrive shortly to start a monitoring mission as part
of a recent agreement between the Nepal government and the U.N. High Commissioner for
Human Rights.
''The U.N.'s goal is to set up regional field offices to ensure rapid responses to violations
reports, and to have an advance team of human rights monitors in Nepal by early May,"
said a U.N. statement on its website.
A high level team has already completed a fact-finding study on the needs of the
monitoring mission. Led by Prof. Walter Kaelin, a Swiss national and special representative
of the U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, the team traveled to various hotspots within the
kingdom and also observed the situation of populations displaced internally due to Nepal's
violent Maoist conflict.
''The U.N. is making a strong statement by sending this monitoring mission,'' a former
senior Nepal government official said, requesting anonymity. ''It shows the international
community will not tolerate any more rights abuses.''
Nepal has been caught in a three-sided conflict since October 2002 when King Gyanendra
seized power for the first time and began ruling through hand picked governments. But on
Feb. 1 this year, the king did away with any remaining notions of democracy by ousting a
party-based coalition government, arresting hundreds of politicians, human rights
defenders and journalists and imposing strict emergency measures to thwart any
opposition to his rule.
Gyanendra justified his actions as ''necessary to save democracy and constitutional
monarchy'' from a violent rebel Maoist insurgency since 1996 which aims to overthrow the
monarchy in favour of a kingless communist republic. More than 11,200 people have died
in the conflict so far, and human rights abuses have hit record levels. Both Amnesty
International and Human Rights Watch have termed Nepal as the country with the highest
number of disappearances.
The setting up of the mission was signed in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
between the Nepal government and Louise Arbour, the U.N. High Commissioner for
Human Rights, in Geneva on Apr. 10. On Wednesday, the 61st session of UN Human Rights
Commission in Geneva also passed a resolution under agenda 19, of the order of
proceedings, aimed at restoring democracy and respect for human rights in Nepal.
The agenda 19 resolution strongly decries the abolishment of democracy and suspension
of civil and political freedoms, and urges the royal regime to restore those rights
immediately.
Among other things, the resolution also calls upon both the Nepal government and Maoist
rebels ''to respect human rights and international humanitarian law, in particular Common
Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, as well as to act in conformity with all other
relevant standards relating to the protection of civilians, particularly of women and
children and to allow the safe and unhindered access of humanitarian organisations to
those in need of assistance."
Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions states that ''persons taking no active part in the
hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those
placed 'hors de combat' by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all
circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race,
colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria''.
''This is a huge development," said Genevieve Federspiel, the deputy director of the Swiss
Agency for Development Cooperation's Nepal country office. ''This acknowledges that
Nepal's conflict cannot be resolved through the gun."
The Swiss government has been one of the most active parties in pressing for U.N.
monitoring of the Nepal rights situation.
Nepal's beleaguered mainstream political parties who have faced the brunt of the royal
regime's policies have welcomed the U.N. Human Rights Commission resolution.
''We of course strongly welcome the resolution and hope that the international community
will see that it is implemented in the right spirit,'' said Ram Sharan Mahat, a former foreign
minister and leader of the Nepali Congress.
The clamour from rights groups and western donor governments alarmed by the
deteriorating rights situation and political conflict were instrumental in pressuring the
Nepal government to sign the MoU for the setting up of the U.N. rights monitoring
mission.
In a cleverly executed diplomatic move, the international community dangled the threat of
the more stringent agenda nine resolution, on the organisation of work of the
commission's session, to force the royal regime to sign the MoU. The agenda nine
resolution calls for appointment of a U.N. special rapporteur to monitor the the kingdom's
human rights situation.
The Nepal government specifically abhors the appointment of a special rapporteur, which
would put it in the league of pariah nations like Burma.
Though the agenda 19 item passed on Wednesday does not appoint a special rapporteur,
all other provisions of monitoring and technical assistance are similar to agenda nine.
In essence, it allows the royal regime to declare a victory because the special rapporteur
was not appointed.
''But it cannot continue with rights violations because the MoU and agenda 19 have strong
monitoring mechanisms," a western diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
Though together the MoU and the agenda 19 resolution together restrict the security
forces and Maoists from engaging in rights violations, one of the worries of the
international community is the implementation of both.
The International Crisis Group (ICG), a Brussels-based conflict resolution organization,
voiced such concerns to U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Arbour.
''Full, robust and rapid deployment of the necessary mission is essential...from the outset.
For political and financial reasons, it will be difficult to expand it at a later stage, and
gradual deployment will enable human rights violators and their allies to develop tactics
and strategies to impede the mission," the ICG's president, Gareth Evans, said in a letter to
Arbour on Thursday.
Rights and advocacy groups have reason to be worried. Nepal made lofty promises in
March last year at the U.N. Human Rights Commission's Geneva session but failed to
implement many of those promises, prompting a stronger resolution from the body this
year.
''Last year, they took us at face value. But we did not implement the promises in sincerity,''
said the former senior government official. ''This year's resolution shows that our
government has lost credibility and the U.N. is intent on making sure that we implement
all resolutions with sincerity.''
The OHCHR likely to push for full implementation of the agreements and resolutions
because, as a foreign observer who has dealt extensively with the U.N. notes, ''this is
Arbour's first big project after being appointed the High Commissioner for Human Rights
last year.''
''This is her baby and she will see to it that the monitoring mission is a success. The Nepal
government and Maoists will have little room to maneuver.'' (END/2005)
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