(New York) - Nepal’s King Gyanendra dealt a further blow to respect for basic human rights by increasing his control over the country’s already beleaguered National Human Rights Commission, Human Rights Watch said today.
The Commissioners, whose term is set to end today, had provoked government criticism for investigating abuses by the Royal Nepali Army as well as insurgent Maoists during the country’s nine-year-old civil war. Fighting in Nepal’s decade-long civil war, in which some 12,000 people have died, has intensified since King Gyanendra assumed total executive authority in the country on February 1.
“The National Human Rights Commission has tried to protect the rights of Nepalis from both sides of this brutal conflict,” said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch. “Even as the violence in Nepal surges, the king has sought to block an important independent voice critical of both government and Maoist abuses.”
On Monday, the king changed the composition of the three-person committee required to appoint or extend the members’ term. This committee will now consist of the foreign minister, the chief justice and the speaker of the lower house of parliament (now dismissed by the king). All three have supported the king’s takeover.
Under the Human Rights Commission Act of 1997, which established the institution, any extension of the terms of the present commissioners or the appointment of new commissioners would require the approval of the prime minister, the chief justice, and the leader of the opposition in the lower house of parliament. This composition followed recommendations by the United Nations set out in the Paris Principles, which relate to the status and functioning of national human rights institutions.
Because the king dismissed the parliament and the prime minister when he assumed direct control, the appointing committee for the Commission could not be formed.
“The point of having the prime minister and the leader of the opposition on the appointment committee was to ensure a democratic and transparent process,” Adams said. “Instead of simply extending the term of the present commissioners, the king ignored the intent of the statute and imposed his own will.”
With the terms of the members of the commission due to expire, the Commission’s future is uncertain. Nepali human rights activists and political commentators have expressed fears that the new appointment committee will either let the Commission whither away or will appoint members unlikely to challenge the government’s actions.
Since the Commission began working in 2000, it has emerged as an important advocate for human rights in Nepal. Among other things, the Commission conducted an unprecedented investigation into the Royal Nepali Army’s massacre of 19 persons at Doramba in Ramechhap district in August 2003. This investigation brought to light atrocities committed by both sides to the conflict in isolated parts of the country.
After the royal takeover of February 1, the government increased its direct and indirect pressure to hinder the Commission’s work. The government prevented members of the NHRC from leaving the capital Kathmandu to visit Kapilvastu, where armed vigilantes, allegedly with some government support, engaged in mob violence against suspected Maoists in late February. Commission teams have been denied access to military detention facilities. In the wake of these problems, Sushil Pyakurel, one of the most respected members of the commission, left Nepal and denounced the government’s obstruction of the Commission’s work and the king’s assault on civil and political rights.
“The king has been talking about democracy and human rights to maintain the international support he desperately needs,” Adams said. “With this move against the Commission, foreign donors should see that the king is more concerned about increasing his power than promoting the rights of the Nepali people.”
