Strict bill on military aid to Nepal

NEW YORK, Nov 15 - US President George W. Bush signed on Monday a Bill that has set out strict conditions on providing military assistance to Nepal.

The Foreign Operations law under “Security in Asia”, which makes appropriations for the Department of State, foreign operations, and related programmes for the fiscal year ending September 30 next year, has asked Nepal government and the security forces to meet about nine conditions for receiving military assistance.

Most of the conditions (six) are related to “protecting human rights”, while the rest are related to civil liberties – freedoms of speech, the press and associations; and the right of movement. There were only four major conditions set out in the similar Bill last year.

Congressman Jim Kolbe from Arizona had authored the Bill, while major amendments were made as proposed by Senator Patrick Leahy in July.

Sources said Republicans in the US House were reluctant to condition US security assistance to Nepal at all. However, the pressure from Democrats prevailed.

Analysts here say resumption of the stalled US military support to Nepal for the coming year looks even more elusive after the passage of this law. “This [passage] is significant as just a few months ago, it did not look as if any conditions would go through,” said Veena Siddharth, Washington Director of Human Rights Watch/Asia. “The King’s actions since February and the recent passage of the media law have made it more difficult to take at face value his claims of having a plan to restore democracy and rights.”

The original bill had stipulated, among other conditions: “the Royal Anti-Corruption Commission (Royal Commission for Corruption Control) functions as a transparent, non-political, and objective body in accordance with the 1990 Nepalese Constitution”.

However, the amended Bill, which has now become a law, has clearly ruled out US recognition to RCCC that stands in the way of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA). It has asked the royal government to ensure that “the CIAA is receiving adequate support to effectively implement its mandate and that no other anti-corruption body is functioning in violation of the 1990 Constitution or contrary to due process.”

Other major conditions include: granting civilian prosecutors, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and international humanitarian organizations, unannounced and unimpeded access to all detainees, detention centres and relevant documents; ending torture, extrajudicial killings and other gross violations of human rights; complying with habeas corpus orders.

While the US government has set these conditions on the government, it has on the other hand decided to provide $2.5 million to the OHCHR in Nepal to monitor and report on human rights violations throughout the country.