Arbour meets PM Koirala, calls for end to impunity
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Louise Arbour met with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala Saturday morning at the official residence of the PM in Baluwatar.
According to Dr. Suresh Chalise, Koirala’s foreign affairs advisor, the meeting focused on recent political changes and their implications on human rights situation.
Arbour is learnt to have noted the improvement in human rights situation since the end of royal regime. However, she stressed the need to end the culture of impunity by punishing rights violators according to law.
Meanwhile, speaking at an interaction with the human rights community this afternoon, Arbour said her office would be actively engaged, as per the provisions in the comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) signed between the government an the Maoists, in monitoring the human rights provisions in the CPA in the days ahead.
“My office has been asked to play a central role in monitoring the human rights provisions of CPA. We intend to fulfill this responsibility by working together with the incoming Interim Government of Nepal, political parties, National Human Rights Commission, civil society and all other relevant actors,” she said.
Saying that impunity is a main threat to human rights protection, Arbour said the main focus should be on resolving all outstanding cases of disappearances and holding accountable to those who committed grave human rights abuses during the conflict – both from the CPN (Maoist) and the state security forces.
“International experience teaches that this task, though difficult and challenging, is an essential pre-condition to durable and sustainable peace,” she said, adding that the state is directly accountable to the victims of rights abuses and their families “who have the right to know the truth of what took place, but also see justice done”.
Mentioning that the OHCHR Nepal has submitted detailed reports about the torture and death of 15-year-old Maina Sunuwar and the torture and disappearances from the Nepal Army’s Bhairabnath Battalion, Arbour said military officials involved in rights abuses should not be allowed to participate in UN operations until proper prosecution through civilian courts.
To create a just society, Arbour noted, it is now time to address longstanding discrimination and social exclusion of such Nepalese as Dalits, indigenous peoples, Madhesis, people with disabilities and exploited groups such as ex-Kamaiyas.
The UN rights chief who arrived in Kathmandu on Friday on a six-day visit is scheduled to meet with senior government officials, political leaders and human rights representatives. nepalnews.com mk/sd Jan 20 07
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