OHCHR publishes report on disappearances in Nepal

19 December 2008

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), released a report Friday on its investigations into a series of disappearances that occurred in Nepal’s Bardiya District in 2001-03, during the conflict between government and Maoist forces. The 99-page report documents enforced disappearances by both security forces and by the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M).

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay noted that the Government of Nepal has prepared legislation to establish a commission of inquiry to investigate all enforced disappearances committed during the conflict, including the 170 cases documented in her organization’s report.

“I welcome the Government of Nepal’s commitment to investigate the many disappearances, and hope this commission of inquiry is established quickly,” Pillay said, adding that she offered OHCHR’s full support and cooperation for the commission during its investigations. “Ensuring justice and redress in these cases would not only provide some relief to the victims, but would also constitute an important step forward in Nepal’s peace process – indeed it would be a significant breakthrough in the Government’s pledge to end impunity and its effort to build a new Nepal based on rule of law and respect for human rights.”

The OHCHR report documents the cases of 156 people who were allegedly disappeared by State authorities in Bardiya, a district some 150km southwest of the capital Kathmandu. The majority of cases occurred between December 2001 and January 2003, following the victims’ arrest by the former Royal Nepalese Army (RNA). The Nepal Police (NP) and the Armed Police Force (APF) were responsible for a smaller number of cases. These actions took place in the context of counter-insurgency operations directed at combating Maoist activities in the area. OHCHR also investigated 14 similar cases that are attributed to the CPN-M themselves.

The fate of most of those who disappeared at the hands of State authorities in Bardiya remains officially unknown, despite repeated requests for clarification by their families and by human rights organizations, including OHCHR. However, the OHCHR report cites credible witness testimony suggesting that a number of detainees were killed while in custody, or shortly after being removed by members of the security forces. OHCHR also documented the systematic use of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in the Royal Nepalese Army’s Chisapani Barracks.

The documented disappearances at the hands of the CPN-M took place within a pattern of what was known, in CPN-M terminology, as “party action” against individuals considered to be army informants. Most of the victims were abducted from their homes, or close to their villages, by small groups of people dressed in civilian clothes, sometimes including known Maoist cadres.

In July 2008, the CPN-M acknowledged to OHCHR that it had killed 12 of the 14 victims cited in the report, and OHCHR has urged the CPN-M to cooperate fully with the Commission of Inquiry.

Prior to the report’s release, OHCHR engaged in discussions with the Government, the National Human Rights Commission, civil society organizations and members of the Constituent Assembly.

An enforced disappearance is an open-ended human rights violation that affects not only the direct victims but also their family members who are deprived of the possibility to establish what has happened to their missing relative and to resolve the numerous economic, social, emotional and other hardships that typically arise in such a situation.

Full text of the report