Further supplementary written evidence
submitted by Asian Human Rights Commission
The situation in Nepal following King Gyanendra's
dismissal of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's cabinet and his
formation of a new government of which he is the head, poses some
hard questions to the international community, Nepal's closest
neighbor, India, has condemned the King's move despite its previous
close links to the King. King Gyanendra has decided to suspend
multi-party democracy for "three years". During this
time, the direct target of his attack will clearly be the democratic
groups and human rights defenders who insist on respect for international
humanitarian law and international human rights law. The capacity
of these sane voices to communicate with the Nepalese people and
with the outside world has been interrupted by the declaration
of a state of emergency, which has suspended the rights of free
expression and association as welt as arbitrary suspension of
the all communication modes such as mobile phones, land lines
and internet. In this way, all except those who directly support
the King are outlawed.
In fact, those supporting the King have reportedly
been allowed to rally and express their support. This creates
a dangerous situation giving way for Royalist groups backed and
supported by the Royal Nepalese Army to hunt or harm members of
democratic groups and other civil society actors such as students'
union leaders, trade unions leaders, journalists and human rights
defenders. At least one such clash with students has already been
reported. Similar circumstances in other countries have seen arrests,
detentions, torture, rapes, extra judicial killings, and disappearances
take place as cooperation develops between the military and favoured
political groups against others. By allowing the military to continue
arming civilians and royalist groups will turn Nepal to situations
such as Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia and East Timor.
The King has now put himself against all those
who support a democratic system in Nepal. Such a move will naturally
be resisted by those who have struggled for so long to end the
age old monarchical system in Nepal, which is known to be severely
repressive, The emerging situation is thus explosive, and it would
be naive to believe that such a wild political dream can be achieved
without provoking violence.
There is a little window of opportunity where
the international community can play an active role to stop enormous
loss of human life. Much will depend on the way the international
community responds to the situation. Statements that have been
issued by United Kingdom, the UN, the Indian government, the US
State Department, the European Union and other governments demonstrate
that King Gyanendra's move has not inspired support. However,
much will depend on the practical measures by which their opposition
is expressed. The position taken by India in not attending the
SAARC conference is a significant political gesture.
Prior to this state of emergency, Nepal was
already mired in an exceptional situation of anarchy, which had
been prevailing in recent years due to conflicts with the Maoist
rebels who occupy large sections of Nepal. The declared basis
of the Maoist revolt was that the 1990 democratic reforms did
not go far enough. With the King's present attempt to wipe out
those limited reforms, the situation will hardly get better. In
the meantime, as recently published report by us "The
mathematics of barbarity and zero rule of law" published
in December 2004 shows that gross human rights abuses are taking
place on a large scale throughout the country. Nepal's judiciary
had in fact been brought to a stand still long before the current
emergency.
The international community must act now. It
is time to carry out rigorous preventative diplomacy to save human
lives and ensure protection of principles enshrined in the UN
Charter.
You must initiate a process leading to a peaceful
resolution of the situation with the co-operation of all governments
and show your concern by sending a high level delegation to Nepal
IMMEDIATELY to begin the process.
Additionally you must publicly and diplomatically
pressurise the Nepalese authorities to restore all communications
with immediate effect.
It is timely that the international community responds
to ensure a smooth transition to democracy in Nepal where principles
enshrined in the UN Charter, UDHR and other international human
rights and humanitarian norms are fully protected and perpetrators
who are enjoying full impunity are brought to justice.
Ali Saleem
Project Co-ordinator
Asian Human Rights Commission—Hong Kong
6 February 2005
PS Please find attached an appeal issued by the 25
leading human rights NGOs for your easy reference.
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