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NEPAL: Another illegal arrest and disappearance of a man by the Joint-Security Forces

December 15, 2004

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

15 December 2004
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UA-174-2004: NEPAL: Another illegal arrest and disappearance of a man by the Joint-Security Forces 

NEPAL: Rule of law; Disappearance
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by another illegal arrest and forced disappearance of a young man named Mr Naniram Kafle (23) by around 50 personnel of the Joint-Security Force, which took place in the Naubise Village Development Committee-1, Dharke, Dhading, Nepal on 21 September 2004. His whereabouts are currently unknown. Nanirm's family worries that he might be subjected to torture, disappearance or even killing.

We call for your urgent intervention into this matter. Please write to Major-General Sharma Thappa and other relevant authorities demanding immediate investigation into this case so that the family members can come to know the victim's whereabouts, and the perpetrators can be brought to justice without delay. Please also urge Major-General Sharma Thappa to strictly instruct the army and the police to stop the ongoing illegal arrest, detention and disappearance of civilians.
 
Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMATION:

Name of the victim: Mr. Naniram Kafle, 23 years old, a farmer
Address of the victim: Naubise Village Development Committee (VDC)-1, Dharke, Dhading, Nepal
Alleged perpetrators: around 50 personnel of the Joint-Security Force, consisted of Royal Nepal Army (RNA), armed police and the police
Date of incident: 21 September 2004

Case details:

At about 0:30 a.m. of 21 September 2004, a 23-year-old farmer, Mr Naniram Kafle, was arrested at his house in Naubise VDC-1, Dharke, Dhading, Nepal by about 50 personnel of the Joint-Security Force (JSF), which consisted of army soldiers, armed police and the police.

When they arrived in Naniram's house, the JSF personnel kicked the door and shouted to open it. Some of them were in uniform while others were in plain clothes. When the scared family opened the door, the JSF personnel came into the house and arrested Naniram without telling any reason for his arrest. They did not show an arrest warrant, either. When Naniram's family asked why the victim was arrested, the JSF personnel simply replied that they wanted to inquire about something from him and would release him after 4-5days, after they finished the interrogation. Despite repeated requests of the family, the JSF did not even tell them where Naniram would be taken. Since then, his whereabouts have been unknown.

Naniram's family waited for five days but the victim did not return to home. To locate Naniram, the family then went to various police stations and army barracks, where the officers completely denied his arrest. The victim's father, Mr. Narayan Prasad Kafle, filed a complaint about his son's disappearance at the National Human Rights Commission on October 4 (registration no. 1270). However, no serious action has been taken to investigate this matter. The family have said that they do not even know whether he is alive or not.


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Disappearances are a daily event in Nepal. Its National Human Rights Commission alone has recorded some 1400 cases, most involving the military. Those disappeared seldom return: most are killed, their bodies never returned to their relatives, who have no means to complain or protest. The few who do survive find it hard to live a normal life after what they have experienced.

The government of Nepal is in chaos. It is clearly unable to ensure the security of its people. During 2004, the AHRC raised its voice on a number of occasions when government security forces resorted to unnecessary violence as a means of control. With government consent, these agencies have arbitrarily arrested, tortured, extrajudicially killed and forcibly disappeared thousands upon thousands of citizens: most have fallen victim to units under the Joint Command of the Royal Nepal Army, and most are ordinary people innocent of any crimes.

The government has gone so far as to help the security forces to conceal grave human rights violations, particularly disappearances. Even the highest court of the country and the National Human Rights Commission have been directed not to discuss violations committed by the military, thereby denying any possibility of relief for the victims. And with the police and military refusing to admit that large-scale disappearances are occurring, domestic law-enforcement agencies, including the courts, are unable to do anything. Local police often refuse to register complaints of disappearance, and the Supreme Court is reluctant to intervene on grounds of lack of evidence and authority. Cases filed before it are rejected summarily, causing those who had once dared to lodge complaints to no longer bother. Civilians cannot get access to military courts, and these are anyhow far below accepted standards of impartiality. All government organs responsible for disappearances enjoy absolute impunity. The result is overwhelming fear, helplessness and silence. The situation in the Maoist-controlled regions is equally bad since virtually no civilian law enforcement agencies are operative there at all.


SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter, fax or an email to Major-General Sharma Thappa and ask him to take immediate action into this case.

Sample letter:

Dear Major General Thappa,

RE: NEPAL: Another illegal arrest and disappearance of a man by the Joint-Security Forces 

Name of the victim: Mr. Naniram Kafle, a 23-year-old farmer
Address of the victim: Naubise Village Development Committee (VDC)-1, Dharke, Dhading, Nepal
Alleged perpetrators: around 50 personnel of the Joint-Security Force, consisted of Royal Nepal Army (RNA), armed police and the police
Date of incident: 21 September 2004

I am writing to express my deep concern regarding another illegal arrest and forced disappearance in Nepal this time of Mr Naniram Kafle by around 50 personnel of the Joint-Security Force, in the Naubise Village Development Committee-1, Dharke, Dhading on 21 September 2004.

According to the information I have received, the security forces illegally arrested Naniram without an arrest warrant and even did not tell his family about the reason for his arrest and the place where he was being taken.  His whereabouts have been unknown since then and his family is desperately searching for him. Although the family visited several police stations and army barracks to locate the victim, they could not find him in any place. The victim's father lodged a complaint about his son's disappearance at the National Human Rights Commission (registration no. 1270); however, no action has yet been taken to investigate this matter.

This is another case of disappearances, which take place daily in Nepal. Its National Human Rights Commission alone has recorded some 1400 cases, most involving the military. Those disappeared seldom return: most are killed, their bodies never returned to their relatives, who have no means to complain or protest. However, the government of Nepal has failed to ensure the security of its people. Instead, the government has rather encouraged the security forces to commit such violence by ensuring their impunity.

I urge you to immediately intervene into this matter and take all possible action to locate the victim. An inquiry into the incident must also be held, resulting in the prosecution and punishment of those responsible. Lastly, I urge the government of Nepal to strictly instruct the security forces to stop ongoing illegal arrest, detention, disappearances, torture and extra-judicial killings against civilians.

Sincerely yours,


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SEND A LETTER TO:

Major-General Sharma Thappa
Head of the Joint Command of the Royal Nepal Army
Attn: Officer of Royal Nepal Army Human Rights Cell
Human Rights Cell
Singha Durbar
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Telefax: + 977 14 245 020/226 292

SEND A COPY TO:

1. His Majesty King Gyanendra
Narayanhity Royal Palace
Durbar Marg
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Tel: 977 14 413577/227577
Fax: 977 14 227395/ 411955

2. Mahadeo Prasad Yadav
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Ramshahpath, Kathmandu
NEPAL
Tel: +977 14 262548 (direct line)/262394 (through Personal Assistant)
Fax: +977 14 262582
Email: fpattorney@most.gov.np

3. Mr. Nain Bahadur Khatri
Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission
Pulchowck, Lalitpur
NEPAL
Tel: +977 1 5 547 974 or 525 659 or 547 975
Fax: +9771 5 547 973
Email: nhrc@ntc.net.np

4. Mr. David Johnson
Senior Human Rights Advisor
C/o UNDP, UN House
P.O. Box: 107
Pulchowk, Kathmandu
NEPAL
Tel: +977 1 5 524 366 / 5 523 200
Fax: +977 1 5 523 991 / 5 523 986

5. Ms Manuela Carmema Castrillo
Chairperson
Working group on arbitrary detention
C/o OHCHR-UNOG,
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006

6. Mr. Diego Garcia-Sayan
Chairperson
Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
Att: Ms. Soussan Raadi-Azarakhchi
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006
E-mail: urgent-action@ohchr.org


Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Program
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-174-2004
Countries :
Issues :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.