One Month After the King’s Assumption of Power

The following is a statement by a number of Nepalese human rights organisations. Due to the current threat to human rights defenders, the names of the organisations have been kept confidential.

One Month After the King’s Assumption of Power, March 4, 2005

Since the King’s invocation of Article 27-C to usurp all state power and declare the “State of Emergency” on February 1, the people of the Kingdom of Nepal have had to endure severe suppression of their civil and political rights. Since February 1st more than 530 political activists and human rights defenders have been detained. While some have been released, the detentions continue and many others have been prohibited from moving freely. Among them, more than 300 political leaders and 35 human rights defenders including human rights activists, journalists and trade unionists are still under detention in different unknown detention centers under the “Public Security Act, 1989,” which was initially enforced to suppress the 1990 peaceful democratic movement. With the imposition of “state of emergency” fundamental human rights have been suspended, including freedom of opinion and expression, freedom to peaceful assembly, freedom of movement, press and publication rights, right against preventive detention, right to information, right to property, right to privacy, and right to constitutional remedy except right to habeas corpus. The suspension of fundamental human rights, complete media censorship, and restrictions and detention of leaders has produced a security vacuum in which abuses go unchecked, excessive use of force and authority is apparent, and democratic institutions are severely undermined.

The February 1 move was justified by the King in his notification to the UN as being necessary to provide security and bring peace to the country. However, since February 1st an estimated 229 people have been killed (55 by Maoists and 174 by the state) and accurate accounts of military encounters, aerial bombings, arrests, and disappearances are difficult to decipher due to the military’s control over all information, human rights monitoring, and media. The government has not called for talks with the Communist Party of Nepal - Maoist and has been actively destabilizing democracy and security by restricting civil society, curtailing political rights, arming civilians to create militias, and restricting due legal processes. Therefore, the King’s actions since February 1st do not support his argument for the “state of emergency” or for his assumption of full power.

Other measures taken by the King’s regime since February 1st have included:
* Mass detentions
* Full media censorship, which is under the oversight of the security forces and the newly established Media Monitoring Committee
* Control of communication services
* Hesitation to take habeas corpus cases and other writ petitions of non-suspended rights
* Restriction of travel of human rights defenders, political leaders, and academicians without notification
* Monitoring the activities and movement of human rights defenders and organizations
* Random checking of identity cards
* Formation of the Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC), which has the power to investigate, prosecute and penalize, duplicates the constitutionally established Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, and the RCCC is a potential tool for political power and revenge
* Creation of a “code of conduct” by the Ministry of Women, Children, and Social Welfare to control and regulate international and national nongovernmental organizations, per the instruction of the Security Sub-Committee.

Despite the suspension of military aid and voiced concerns by some members of the international community, the King has not put forth any plan for peace, for the restoration of democracy or for the dissolution of the “state of emergency.” The King’s ongoing actions are clearly an abuse of power and are destructive to the democratic future of Nepal. Without political, democratic space, the free flow of uncensored information, and unobstructed monitoring by civil society, human rights abuses and atrocities will increase and perpetrators will go unpunished. The human rights community of Nepal urges the international community to take immediate measures for the unconditional release of political leaders and human rights defenders, for the restoration of civil liberties and the guarantee of political freedoms.