By Pei Hu
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

Kathmandu, Nepal –The UN and human rights groups have been concerned with the high number of disappearances in Nepal.  In August 2004, after Amnesty International reported that more than 378 people disappeared in 2003, the UN issued a warning to Nepal on the International Day of Disappeared. However, the situation did not improve. In December 2004, the UN has sent a fact finding team to Nepal to investigate the large number of political disappearances.

The four-member UN fact finding team will interview families of the disappeared and a detention facility.

Many of these disappearances are politically motivated. Amnesty International reported that most cases are from the Nepalese government who detained suspected Maoists. There are also cases of rebels abductions, extrajudicial killings, and tortures of suspected security forces. Since 1996, 9,500 people, many of them civilians, have reportedly died since the internal fighting between the security forces and Maoist rebels. Brad Adams, Asia Director at Human Rights Watch, said, “Disappearances were perhaps the worst aspect of a dirty and ugly war in Nepal … Yet so far no one has been held accountable.”

Human rights groups say that Nepal has the highest number of disappearances, about 1,400 cases since the conflict began, which surpasses Colombia in the most number of disappearances.  Amnesty International said, “The unprecedented number of ‘disappearances’ is one of the most pressing human rights issues facing Nepal. Only by tackling the culture of abuse, ending the impunity of security forces and putting in place comprehensive legal and institutional reforms can the government halt the slide towards a human rights disaster.”

The Nepalese government denies these allegations. Nepalese officials says about 1,000 people have been released after being held in custody and only 300 people are still currently detained.

Human Rights Watch and Advocacy Forum sent a letter to the Nepalese government that urged the government to pass a bill to hold perpetrators accountable and to provide appropriate compensation to families of the disappeared.

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International – Nepal: Alarming Rise in “Disappearances” Fueling Human Rights Crisis – 31 August 2004

BBC – Alarm over Nepal Disappearances – 31 August 2004

BBC – UN Probing Nepal Disappearances – 6 December2004

HWR – Nepal: Adopt a Bill on ‘Disappearances’ – 25 November 2008