19 December 2022
Kathmandu
Amnesty International Nepal (Amnesty Nepal) organized its thirty-first General Meeting (GM) on 17 January 2022 in Gaindakot of Nawalparasi (East). Around 300 participants including Amnesty Nepal’s voting delegates, members of the National Board and Appeal Committee, staff, former chairs, observers and other distinguished guests showed their active participation on the one day event.
Honorable Badri Prasad Pandey, the newly elected member of the House of Representatives graced the event as the Chief guest. Likewise, Mr. Lalmani Bhandari, President of Jaycees Nepal was also present as the Special Guest of the inaugural session.
Notably, Amnesty Nepal’s GM this year honored Mr. Suman Adhikari, the former Chair of the Conflict Victims’ Common Platform and the elder son of Muktinath Adhikari, a revered member of Amnesty Nepal who was brutally murdered by the Maoists on 16 January 2003. Amnesty Nepal honored Mr Adhikari with Amnesty Nepal Human Rights Defenders’ Award, 2022 for his relentless and untiring efforts in the struggle for truth, justice and reparations for the tens of thousands of victims of human rights violations in Nepal like himself. He was also provided with a sum of 21 thousand rupees.
Also at the inaugural session, Amnesty Nepal rewarded one of its staff Mr. Chakra Kumar Pradhan for his long service to the organization (Dirgha Sewa Kadarpatra). He was rewarded with 51 thousand rupees.
Speaking at the inaugural session of the General meeting, the Chief guest of the event, honorable Pandey committed to work towards safeguarding and promoting the agenda of peoples’ rights as enshrined in the constitution of Nepal including through proactive involvement in shaping new legislative measures to give effect to these rights. Nepal Jaycees president Mr Bhandari praised Amnesty Nepal’s human rights work and committed to collaborate and partner on Amnesty’s human rights campaigns.
The former Chairs speaking at the inaugural event questioned the intent of the caretaker government towards pushing for a controversial Ordinance to amend the Criminal Procedures Code, 2018 with an aim to give immunity to perpetrators who are convicted by the judiciary and to shield those others who have been implicated on serious criminal cases.
Amnesty Nepal Chair Bipin Budhathoki shared his vision of a stronger Amnesty Nepal movement with a robust strategic framework that will make the organization fit-for-purpose in what it does. He also committed towards the internal organizational reform that is taking shape since past couple of years urging all to support and contribute positively.
The closed session of the GM was chaired by Ms Parbata Acharya, the former Vice-chair of Amnesty Nepal. The closed session approved the annual impact report, audit and financial account reports, the governance report and the proposed programme and budget for the year 2023 with the necessary presentation, discussion and deliberation.
Following the conclusion of the closed session, a documentary entitled ‘Deaths Unexplained’ prepared with the support of Amnesty Nepal was screened. The documentary highlights how Nepali migrant workers’ deaths in destination countries are normalized without providing the actual truths of the cause of these deaths attributing them to “natural causes” while bereaved families are not only deprived of the right to know what happened to their loved ones but also are not able to claim compensation for the loss they suffer. After the screening, the participants participated in a Human Rights Action whereby they held placards and banners expressing their concern over the treatment of migrant workers in Qatar and urging Qatar as well as FIFA, the world football governing body, to establish a fund to compensate the migrant workers and their family members who lost their lives, who got severely injured and who lost their savings while working to construct infrastructures that were crucial for the successful conduction of FIFA World Cup 2022.