The government of Nepal has formally protested against the United Nations vetting the human rights records of officials mainly from the security agencies nominated by the government to serve in the UN peacekeeping mission,calling it an assault on the authority of the state. Caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Nepal and Sushil Koirala,working president of the Nepali Congress,have also publicly criticised the chief of the United Nations Mission to Nepal (UNMIN) for having prescribed a 60-week schedule to the Nepali actors in the peace process on various issues,including integration of the Maoist combatants,even though UNMIN has just about eight weeks of its tenure left. Attempts to play down the criticism that it was not a dictate of any sort from UNMIN have hardly convinced the Nepali actors. The way international actors,including some UN agencies,have conducted themselves here during the past four years has lowered their image,efficiency and perceived neutrality among some here,although in far lesser degree than is visible in Sri Lanka.
Both UNMIM and EU countries have been facing accusations of double standards on human rights violations allegedly committed by the state and the Maoists during the years of conflict. Even prestigious international think-tanks like the International Crisis Group have faced this accusation; in its reports it has repeatedly asked donors to not give visas to Nepali authorities if their human rights record during the years of conflict is not clean. But it has not made such recommendations for Maoists committing such violations.
The government led by G.P. Koirala,soon after the former king,Gyanendra,lost power in April 2006,formed a judicial commission headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Krishna Jung Rayamajhi to examine human rights abuses by the royal regime in its attempts to suppress the April movement. Yet Justice Rayamajhi,after his retirement from the bench,had been in the forefront of the movement; all four other members of the commission also belonged to political parties that had been part of the protests against Gyanendra. Besides politicians,the commission held 200-plus officials civil,military,police,armed police force guilty,and in some cases it gave no opportunity to the guilty to depose before it. The UN,the EU and the US had earlier stated publicly that a similar commission formed by the then king violated basic investigative norms. The Rayamajhi Commissions composition,conduct,process and findings were,though,endorsed. The government may have,for all practical purposes,dumped its report,but the guilty bear the stigma of having human rights violators on their records.
The government seems to have realised that treating them as guilty,without the yet to be formed TRC investigating,would be problematic,and its lodging of a protest with the UN is a clear indication of that realisation.
yubaraj.ghimire@expressindia.com
