22 December 2004
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS, JOURNALISTS AT GRAVE RISK
Human Rights Watch has joined calls for the UN to bolster monitoring efforts in Nepal, where a bloody conflict between security forces and Maoist rebels is putting human rights defenders and journalists at grave risk.
The IFEX member has joined Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists in urging the UN to provide assistance to Nepal's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in monitoring human rights violations. "The U.N. High Commissioner
for Human Rights should ensure a sufficient number and seniority of advisers with full access to rural areas," says Human Rights Watch.
The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Nepalese government recently signed a memorandum under which the government agreed to accept international assistance for the NHRC.
The call comes amidst growing international concern over attacks against human rights defenders and journalists in the country. Human rights defenders have been killed, detained under anti-terrorist legislation, abducted, tortured and threatened, and the offices of human rights organisations have been raided, says
Human Rights Watch.
Since November 2004, the Center for Human Rights and Democratic Studies (CEHURDES) has reported at least 15 cases where journalists were abducted, threatened or detained, and media outlets were targeted.
The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), which concluded a fact-finding mission to Nepal on 14 December, says it has received more reports of disappearances in Nepal than from any other country in the world.
Meanwhile, a high-level EU delegation visiting Nepal this week said the human rights situation was "rapidly deteriorating" and called the intimidation and harassment of human rights defenders "absolutely unacceptable."
Visit:
- Human Rights Watch: http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/12/17/nepal9910.htm
- CEHURDES: http://www.cehurdes.org.np/
- WGEID: http://tinyurl.com/6kslm
- Amnesty International Report on Nepal:
http://web.amnesty.org/report2004/npl-summary-eng
- International Commission of Jurists: http://www.icj.org/
RSS