BY TILAK P. POKHAREL
KATHMANDU, Oct 19 - In her report to the United Nations General Assembly, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour has urged the Nepal government and the Maoists to keep the human rights agenda at the center of the ongoing peace process.
According to a reliable source at the UN, Arbour is expected to present the "Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the Human Rights Situation and Activities of her office including technical cooperation to Nepal" at the General Assembly on Wednesday (Thursday according to Nepal standard time).
The 19-page report has "good paragraphs on impunity, accountability and disappearances", the source said Wednesday. "It (the report) really focuses on the peace process with human rights [concerns] at the center."
The source added that Arbour's report has urged the parties in the peace process to focus on respecting human rights while their negotiations are under way. The report will be made public after Arbour presents it in the General Assembly.
In a similar report last year - the first extensive report since the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) was set up in Nepal in May 2005, the UN office had said that Nepal, under King Gyanendra's autocratic rule, had been experiencing "a grave human rights crisis". Last year's report had also implicated state authorities and Maoist rebels in "widespread human rights violations", besides recognizing vigilante groups as significant contributors to the armed conflict.
Recently, OHCHR expressed concern over inaction on alleged disappearance and possible extra-judicial killing of at least 49 persons by the army. Instead, the army on Monday dismissed the UN allegations.
Likewise, OHCHR said in a report on September 25 that the rebels had killed at least 16 persons since the ceasefire declaration in April, besides committing other fundamental rights violations against civilians.
Posted on: 2006-10-18 21:15:28 (Server Time)
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