Kathmandu, October 13-In a fresh jolt to Nepal government a UN report made public on Wednesday has pointed to the serious human rights violations in the country.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), set up in Nepal in May, has in its report, released Tuesday, found the state guilty of extra judicial executions, civilian killings, disappearances, arbitrary arrests and curbs on the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association.
The report was presented to the Third Committee of the 60th UN General Assembly in New York.
Though King Gyanendra, in a national address on Wednesday, said the security situation had improved in the kingdom since he had seized power in February, the report said the OHCHR as well as other UN rights bodies were concerned about "serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law committed by state authorities and by the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist."
The OHCHR said it has received reports of indiscriminate shooting or bombings by security forces causing deaths of civilians, threats to members of the local population accused of providing the Maoists with food or shelter and the use of civilians under duress as informers, thereby placing them at risk of reprisals by the rebels.
The report mentioned two specific cases of rights abuse by the state. An army sergeant had detained and tortured an individual in Kathmandu, it said, "apparently for private motives."
When the victim sought compensation he was rearrested in violation of a Supreme Court order and tortured more severely.
In another case, a minor was beaten up in the main Kathmandu police station shortly after OHCHR had interviewed him.
The report also refers to the formation of self-defence or "vigilante" groups in a number of districts since this year.
The groups, created in areas where the Maoists have a stronghold, are reported to have committed serious human rights abuses and other crimes with the direct or indirect support of the security forces, it said.
The OHCHR said it would provide the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations information on individuals and units implicated in human rights violations and on officers who had threatened or intimidated victims or witnesses for a review of their suitability for deployment under the UN flag.
The OHCHR also expressed concern at serious breaches of humanitarian law committed by the Maoists, like unlawful killings, rape, extortion, mass abduction and forced recruitment and labour. These could constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, it said.
Related site:
human rights reports on Nepal
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