The human rights catastrophe in Nepal has been a decade in the making. Thousands of people have been killed. Hundreds of thousands have been uprooted. Women have been attacked and raped. Farmers walking home from their fields face bombs and ambushes. Children are abducted and forced to join the fighting. A population already living in dire poverty has been further impoverished by conflict, insecurity and bandhs. Critics of the regime have been locked up or killed or 'disappeared'. Over 1000 activists, lawyers, journalists and politicians were arrested for taking part in peaceful protests in January and February alone. Despite these draconian measures, the vitality and dynamism of Nepal's civil society and media have not been blunted.
A year ago, shortly after King Gyanendra imposed a state of emergency and cracked down on political activists, I visited Nepal to assess the situation in the country. I met with the king, who assured me that he would uphold human rights and address impunity. He has patently failed to do either.
At the end of the visit, Amnesty International called on all governments to stop arms sales to Nepal, and for the UN to deploy human rights observers urgently. India, the United Kingdom and the United States suspended military aid to the Nepal army. In my recent meetings with senior Indian government officials, they reiterated their intention to continue the ban. However, the impact of the suspension has been marred by the fact that the Nepal government has been able to purchase weapons from China and elsewhere.
The UN Commission for Human Rights adopted a tough resolution on Nepal in April 2005, which was followed by the deployment of UN human rights monitors in Nepal. The first report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights indicated that, despite these measures, the situation continues to deteriorate.