Global Launch of Amnesty International’s Annual Report 2010
Repression and injustice are flourishing in the global justice gap
Amnesty International has expressed its concern over the escalating public insecurity in Nepal. The organization, in its annual report, has flagged that worries.
Amnesty International globally launched its annual report entitled Amnesty International Report 2010: the state of world’s human rights on 27 May 2010.
According to the report hundreds of killings and abductions by state forces and armed groups in Nepal. Public insecurity escalated as a growing number of armed groups took violent action against civilians. The police used unnecessary and excessive force to dispel political and rights-based demonstrations. Torture of detainees was widely reported.
Commitments made in Nepal’s 2006 Comprehensive Peace Accord to uphold civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights remained unfulfilled. Political division and proliferation of armed groups threatened the peace process. Efforts to draft a new constitution made little progress-the report stated.
Efforts to establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) stalled report further said that Both sides of the conflict that ended in 2006 subjected people to enforced disappearances. According to the ICRC, more than 1,300 people remained unaccounted for by year’s end. A draft bill criminalizing enforced disappearance lapsed in June, and a Commission of Inquiry into disappearances was not set up.
Impunity continued for perpetrators of human rights abuses during the conflict – no cases were tried before a civilian court. Survivors of violations reported that police refused to file complaints or investigate cases. The authorities failed to implement courtordered arrests of military personnel accused of human rights violations- it stated.
Police continued to employ unnecessary and excessive force to quell demonstrations report said that Over 100 armed groups operated in Nepal’s Terai region and committed human rights abuses, including abductions of members of the Pahadi (hill) community and bomb attacks on public places. Over 2,500 former child soldiers remained in cantonments but the two sides failed to reach an agreement on a discharge and rehabilitation plan-report said. Report further said that national laws providing safeguards against torture fell short of international standards, and remained inadequately implemented.
Women human rights defenders were threatened, assaulted and killed, report further said- The government stalled ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court despite a commitment from Nepal’s then Minister of Foreign Affairs .
“Repression and injustice are flourishing in the global justice gap, condemning millions of people to abuse, oppression and poverty,” said Claudio Cordone, interim Secretary General of Amnesty International launching Annual Report in London.
Amnesty International Report 2010: State of the World’s Human Rights, which documents abuses in 159 countries, the organization said that powerful governments are blocking advances in international justice by standing above the law on human rights, shielding allies from criticism and acting only when politically convenient.
Despite serious failures in ensuring justice last year, many events revealed progress. In Latin America, investigations into crimes shielded by amnesty laws were reopened, with landmark judgments involving former leaders including the convictions of former President Alberto Fujimori of Peru for crimes against humanity and Argentina’s last military president, Reynaldo Bignone for kidnapping and torture. All trials in the Special Court for Sierra Leone were concluded apart from the on-going trial of former President of Liberia Charles Taylor-report stated.
In Nepal, Chairperson of AI Nepal Hem Kumar Khadka made public the report amidst the special program in Kathmandu while Director of AI Nepal Rameshwar Nepal and Vice-chairperson Keshab Sigdel briefed the media persons on the human rights situation of Nepal documented by the report.
Similarly, AI report also launched in Biratnagar (eastern region), Janakpur (Central region), Chitwan (Central region), Butwal(western region), Bhairahawa(western region), Pokhara (western region), Dang (Mid-western region) and Nepalgunj (mid-western region) on the same day.