Make torture a crime – activists

Human rights lawyers and activists in Nepal are concerned that the country's peace process will fail to recognise that torture is a crime and deliver justice for its victims. The interim government and Maoists are trying to negotiate a lasting settlement to end the decade-long conflict that has gripped the Himalayan kingdom. The Maoists - who had been waging an armed rebellion against the state - have spent the past three months in peace talks with the government formed by the nation's seven political parties after mass protests ended King Gyanendra's direct rule in April. But the longstanding issue of torture has yet to be addressed and there are growing calls for it to be placed firmly on the agenda. Torture is not legally categorised a crime in Nepal despite the country being a signatory to the UN convention against torture. Mandira Sharma, a prominent lawyer whose organisation Advocacy Forum has called for effective laws to end the use of torture, said more needed to be done to heal the pain and suffering of victims. “It’s now really sad to see both the government and the Maoists not paying any attention towards the issue of torture," Sharma said in the Nepali capital, Kathmandu, on Wednesday. Political workers, rebels and civilians had been tortured in the past decade by security forces and the Maoists, the NGO said. The Maoists had also abducted civilians for allegedly spying on them. The organisation said it documented 2,271 cases of torture between July 2001 and April 2006. The police were blamed in more than half and the Maoists in 46 of the 951 cases reported to the organisation in the year to April 2006. Yet despite the ongoing peace process, the group said that torture was still being used, documenting 72 cases of torture in 21 police detention centres in May this year alone. Shailendra Guragain, director of the Centre for Victims of Torture (CVICT), a Nepalese anti-torture organisation, which has recorded more than 23,000 cases of torture by 2005, echoed calls for the government to make torture a crime. “Many Maoists and security personnel who had been involved in torturing their victims are being released from prisons and given total immunity. Our political leaders and parliamentarians are still unable to consider torture as a big issue. The victims have to fight a legal battle for at least five years and still do not even get compensation,” Guragain said. But less than 20 percent of the 115 cases CVICT brought before the courts had been heard. Rameswar Nepal, director of the Nepal chapter of Amnesty International (AI), said that only a handful of torture victims had ever received compensation. “There is a dire need for setting up a truth commission so that the perpetrators can be tried and given punishment. No one should be spared with the excuse of the present peace negotiations,” said Nepal. Meanwhile, activists want the development of a constitutional legal framework and human rights law made a priority. “This can help on how to categorise torture as a crime, what remedy is needed for past violations, level of punishment for the torturers and compensation for the victims,” said Sharma.