ALTHOUGH THE GOVERNMENT HAS handed over the ownership of small roads to the local bodies, the latter have not been able to handle the responsibility. Since last six months, not only the road extension but even repair and maintenance have remained disrupted. Since this year, the government had handed over all roads except highways and VIP roads to the local bodies. However, the government has neither released adequate budget nor technical expertise and equipment to the local bodies for the purpose. “At present, we do not have materials and resources for road maintenance. But we are developing new system for the purpose,” said Sanjay Raj Upadhyaya, chief of construction department of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC). The Road Board has provided Rs 7.5 million to KMC but Upadhyaya says it is highly inadequate. Likewise, the board has provided Rs 3 million to Lalitpur sub-metropolitan city. The amount, according to Ashok Shrestha, senior officer of Lalitpur sub-metropolitan, is not enough even for the maintenance of a single road.
THE UNITED NATIONS High Commissioner for Human Rights Louse Arbour called for full respect for international humanitarian and human rights law in Nepal’s armed conflict, following the end of a four-month unilateral ceasefire by the Maoists. “It is a tragedy for the people of Nepal that full-scale armed conflict may now resume. But there need not and must not be the same gross violations of international humanitarian law and human rights standards that have been perpetrated during previous phases of the conflict,” said Arbour in a press statement. She said: “ Nepal is a party to the Geneva Conventions as well as to most international human rights treaties: Its security forces are aware of and must fully respect their legal obligations. The leader of the CPN (Maoist) has made general commitments to observe international humanitarian law and respect human rights: I call on them to declare publicly their acceptance of all that these principles require, and to explain to their cadres their responsibility to respect them in practice.” She also said that those on either side of the conflict who commit violations must be held accountable: not only the perpetrators but also those in command of forces which commit such acts may be subject to individual criminal responsibility before a court of law. “I remind the CPN (Maoist) that this includes government officials, the families of security personnel, and persons alleged to be informers.” Arbour added: “I remind the state security forces that this includes unarmed persons thought to be Maoists or to have aided the Maoists.” “My Office in Nepal will be closely monitoring the conduct of both parties in the period ahead, and I will be reporting accordingly to the Commission on Human Rights,” the High Commissioner said.
A TEAM OF NATIONAL HUMAN Rights Commission (NHRC) located 14 ‘disappeared’ persons when it conducted a sudden and unannounced inspection of Mahabir and Jagadal battalion of Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) in Chhauni. The commission has made the list of the 14 persons public. The NHRC team had found nine such persons including a woman in Jagadal and five persons in Mahabir battalion. “During the visit, majority of the persons complained that they were kept in detention for a prolonged period without allowing any outside contact including with their family members,” said a statement released by the NHRC. Those discovered during the inspection include Dutta Bahadur Budha, Harish Chandra Budha and Bharat Pandey of Jumla; Balaram Chaudhary and Krishna Prasad Mainali of Kailali; Ganesh Prasad Sharma of Dailekh; Buddhiman Sarki of Dolpa; Chhabisara Sunar of Bardiya; Jit Bahadur Thapa of Palpa; Hom Prakash Shrestha of Rukum; Man Bahadur Malla and Chakra Bahadur Thapa of Salyan; and Jaya Bahadur Gharti and Kul Bahadur Gharti of Rolpa district.
NEPAL TOPS THE LIST OF NATIONS with highest instances of press censorship and China tops the list in the number of journalists kept in prison, says the annual report on press freedom published by the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF). The report enlists 567 cases of censorship in Nepal , which is more than half the number of cases reported globally (1006) in 2005. When it comes to the cases of physical attacks and threats, Bangladesh and Nepal are on the top of the list. “More than 1300 physical attacks and threats were recorded by RSF during the year – more than in the previous one,” the report said. “The occurred almost daily in Bangladesh and Nepal and came from all sides – police, government or opposition party activists, and members of armed groups. The attackers are rarely punished and can thus continue to target journalists undeterred.” Iraq remains the most dangerous country for the third consecutive year with 24 journalists and five media assistants having been killed there. According to the reports, two journalists were killed in Nepal . China is still the world’s biggest prison for journalists with 32 journalists being kept in jail this year.
