TRIAL concerned over Nepal reaction to UK torture arrest
TRIAL (Swiss Association against Impunity) welcomes the arrest of Nepalese Colonel Kumar Lama in the United Kingdom on suspicion of torture. Following the condemnation of the arrest by senior figures in the Nepalese government, the organisation calls on Nepal to show solidarity with victims of the conflict and fully cooperate with the UK investigation of Col. Lama.
TRIAL noted that Article 9 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (to which Nepal is a party since 14 May 1991), establishes that States Parties shall afford one another the greatest measure of assistance in connection with criminal proceedings brought in respect of alleged perpetrators of torture, including the supply of all evidence at their disposal necessary for the proceedings.
In recent days, senior members of the government of Nepal deemed the UK’s arrest of the accused colonel an attack on the nation’s sovereignty and demanded his immediate release, disregarding its own obligation to cooperate with the UK and the international legal obligations on all States to prosecute or extradite suspected torturers.
“The arrest of Col. Lama in the UK is fully in line with international law and is the natural consequence of the government of Nepal’s failure -more than six years after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement- to investigate and bring to trial those responsible for committing serious human rights violations during the conflict” said Philip Grant.
In its outcry over the arrest, Nepalese officials also alluded to the fact that the country is undergoing a transitional period during which bills are being discussed to create mechanisms that address past incidents of human rights violations.
In November 2012, the United Nations Human Rights Committee established that“there is no certainty that the bills on this matter will be passed as laws and if yes, when they will be passed as laws and the consequences for the victims”. At the beginning of January 2013 the UN Human Rights High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed deep concern for the Ordinance on Investigation of Disappeared People, which would empower a planned Truth and Reconciliation Commission to grant amnesties to perpetrators of crimes and gross violations committed during the conflict. High Commissioner Navy Pillay stated that this would be contrary to international law. It is thus clear that transitional justice mechanisms in Nepal that can be considered in line with international standards unfortunately will not be established soon. “Before such transitional justice mechanisms are fully functional, additional years of State idleness will have passed. Justice already too long delayed will be irrevocably denied to thousands of victims of Nepal’s conflict,” added Grant.
The large number of communications against Nepal pending before the UN Human Rights Committee concerning violations committed during the conflict, as well as numerous reports by national and international organisations highlighting the entrenched impunity in the country are a sad indication that there is little prospect of success of an investigation and prosecution of perpetrators in the country’s domestic criminal justice system.