Rights defenders adopt common strategy on Nepal

NEW DELHI, Oct 7 - At the end of a two-day international meeting on Nepal, rights defenders, jurists and journalists monitoring the situation around Nepal have agreed on a set of “minimum” human rights standards to monitor the worsening conflict.
Representatives of 17 Nepal-based rights organizations and half-a-dozen international organizations, including the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and the United Nations (UN), decided to “better monitor the overall situation in a collective manner”, according to former National Human Rights Commission member Sushil Pyakurel.
“For the first time, we have agreed on a common strategy to monitor the rights situation in Nepal such as people’s right of life, freedom of expression, judiciary, women and children, among others,” said Pyakurel, one of the organizers of what rights activists of the “benchmarking exercise."
However, on the issue of putting pressure on the present regime to ratify all international instruments dealing with human rights there were heated debates amongst the participants. Most representatives were decidedly unprepared to “recognize the illegitimate government”, he said.
The meet also decided to work together, follow the same benchmark, and, quite significantly, better cooperate with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which was set up in Kathmandu last May.
Some of the prominent international participants included ICJ General Secretary Nick Howen, OHCHR representative, and representatives of Amnesty International, Peace Brigade Association.
From Nepal, INSEC’s Subodh Pyakurel and rights activists Krishna Pahadi and representatives of Federation of Nepalese Journalists, Nepal Bar Association and other rights organization partook.
An extended meeting of Nepalese participants will be held on Friday and Saturday as well.