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Articles & Opinion
Human Rights in Perplexity
Shakti Ghimire
greatshakti@yahoo.com
Nepal is the country for whom? Democracy is only
the pretence of a word; human rights are only a constitutional
decoration. Similarly, a resolved peace agenda is the only likely
way to create a stable government.
Nepal is the poorest country in the world with low
per capita income, along with other low demographic indicators.
Due to political instability and an unsystematic development
process, the nation has not been able to fulfill the needs of the
poor for a long time. Before 1990, the non-democratic government,
which ruled for 30 years, never worried about national
development. Corruption, administrative carelessness, impunity,
criminal activities and so many other social evils have existed
within the nation as a consequence of bad governance, which was
especially exposed through open media after the restoration of
democracy in 1990.
In the 1990's, a popular movement created a new
constitution with a clear provision of fundamental rights for the
people, allowing the Nepalese people to develop into citizens from
the King's countryman. However, the political parties concentrated
on their own welfare, rather than the national and institutional
development of democracy. Similarly, ethnic and caste
discrimination, economic crisis, people's participation in the
development and social process became a neglected issue. As a
result, rich people became richer & richer and the poor remained
almost the same. Thus, 'Voicing the Voiceless'; rural communities
and helpless people are now concerned with the Maoist slogan
toward expectation to revolutionize. But this Maoism that has
captured the rural areas creates deadly violence by the means of
weapons, and has killed 4,312 people within nine years.
In this
situation, the Monarch, King Gyanendra, dissolved the elected
government headed by PM Sher Bahadur Deuba on the 4th October 2002
and retained executive power of the State. The pro-parliament
political parties have been flaying the Royal Declaration from the
very beginning, labeling it unconstitutional, along with a demand
to correct it. Regrettably, the Royal
Palace,
never anxious for political parties, continues to formulate its
own road map for the non - democratic way.
King Gyanendra
imposed a state of emergency on the 1st February 2005, justifying
his seizure of power by blaming Nepal's political parties for
failing to address the nine-year conflict between often brutal
Maoist insurgents and government forces. All fundamental
constitutional rights, including freedom of assembly and
expression; the right to information and privacy; the right to
property; and prohibition against arbitrary detention were
suspended. According to the INSEC, 3,332 political activists were
arrested and 2,232 are released on the 1st Feb. to
the 2nd June
2005.
Analyzing the
above situation of Nepal, we can find out some major problems: 1)
the loss of Democracy; 2) strangled Constitutional exercise, 3)
peace in perplexity; and 4) violence developing as a culture.
Human rights and open media are hidden through the lack of
democracy and peace. These are the causes of the division of Nepal
into four sectors; a Royal
Palace
with army power; political parties with popular support; Maoism
and violent activities; and finally, the International community
in the leadership of the UN.
As part of the
United Nations' ongoing effort to help find a peaceful resolution
for the conflict in Nepal, Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent his
Special Adviser, Lakhdar Brahimi to meet with top officials in the
strife-torn Himalayan kingdom of
Nepal.
Mr. Brahimi, an older diplomat, during his visit in Nepal from the
10th to 15th of July, met with King Gyanendra, senior Government
officials, leaders of political parties and a cross-section of
representatives from Nepalese society. Likewise, In April, UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour and the Government
signed an agreement to set up a monitoring operation to help
establish accountability for rights abuses and prevent further
violations by all sides in the nine-year-old armed conflict with
Maoist rebels.
"I don't believe that peace will come. If the peace
talks fail, the fighting will begin again. Even if they succeed,
the Army and the Maoists will take all the jobs. If the fighting
begins again we'll just have to run away and hide and hope we
survive."
I have picked up this expression from the Elderly
Man of Sankhuwasabh Village to explain what types of effects on
development the internal war in Nepal has and will have. In the
same way, the Elderly Village Woman added, "We are old. We don't
care about ourselves. We just want our children to grow up without
war, without being afraid. People say peace has come but it's not
true. We are still afraid to walk around freely, and nobody knows
what might happen tomorrow." These few words are not only the view
of these two villagers; it represents the grief of the Nepalese
inner soul.
Due to the conflict between the Maoist supporters
and the government, the above expressions have gained validity.
The Maoists control several rural areas of Nepal and the
government has been forced to withdraw police and civil servants
to the district capitals. Furthermore, the government has
dissolved the local bodies and as a result, the Maoists have
developed their own mechanisms for operating the community. For an
example, they are on the way to launching a new education and
centralized property system. On the other hand, the government
implements most of the budget to protect the war, not for primary
education, health care and other means of development. In this
situation, due to the lack of democracy, the major donors and
agencies have suspended their funding and army support. This meant
a serious deterioration of security for the civilian population in
the countryside. In addition, several relief projects, NGOs and
international donor projects have been forced to pull out their
workforce in the remote regions, further generating a difficult
situation for the civilians.
Internal displacement is another important issue,
where a large number of people are being displaced everyday. Some
districts are dispatching people and some are receiving large
numbers of displaced persons. The displaced people initially come
to the district head quarters, city or capital (Kathmandu) and
later move further on, seeking shelter and refuge. Currently,
Kathmandu is crowded by them, who are in movement, demanding to
receive internal refuge from the government and UN.
Rural youth have options either to involve
themselves in the Maoist movement and raise weapons, or exit the
country to protect their lives. By this way, the rural area is a
youth free zone. They exit to India or the gulf countries to
protect their lives. For students, their choices are European and
American countries for further studies. These ways, the Nepalese
are well-known as serious violators of the constitution, democracy
and human rights, rather the country of Mt. Everest & Lord Gauttam
Buddha.
The past educates us, it is a bitter fact that
those who have military power will in no way give up their
authority effortlessly to those who weep for power, particularly
to those who have pushed a nation into confusion and a
quantifiable state. At this time, present political leaders are
bad, not political parties. Democratic governments were
unsuccessful, not democracy. We know a single democracy is the
hardware; democratic parties are the operating system; and the
Nepalese are users of the Constitutional Monarchy System.
The Royal
Palace
is that which has not only the Army's power, but the most
effective power - the moral support of the Nepalese. They respect
the king as a live god, because the King is the parent of the
Nepalese, not a player of politics. They want warm love, not a
Governor. But the King is in politics with the support of army
power. On his road map, political parties and people's agendas are
hidden and he doesn't want to give the power to the present
political leader. According to the Maoist, "with out political
parties' government peace talk is a pleasant drama."
Corruption,
unsuccessful government, administrative carelessness, etc. were
activities published because of democracy and open media. More
than this, a huge sequence of corruptive practices is operating
with the lack of democratic government. We must find out what
types of corruption were committed when Nepal was under a non
democratic government. In my opinion, corrupted persons must be
punished according to the constitutional process, not as the king
orders. It is a foolish idea to hijack democracy with the grounds
of some corruption cases. It is confirmed that while democracy was
re-established in
Nepal in 1990, pervious
political system stakeholders were in the process of trying to
demonstrate democracy as an unsuccessful system, in order to show
that the King must be in power of
Nepal. In
another words, Nepalese have not received actual democracy. To
resolve the conflict, we must return to democracy. History
observed, new creation is achievable only in peace and continuous
peace, where we can address all section communities' voices
equally.
I would like to commit once more to some
fundamental things. We can not compromise on democracy, human
rights and open media. In the light of democracy, human rights
will grow. For example, in the Nepalese media house, government
has done one experiment after the 1st Feb. 2005, where army forces
stay for censorship, public voices are hidden. That decision is
not for the publics rights. In turn, we must develop all types of
media as an authenticity source for the news and a platform for
the people.
We have to develop a strong belief in respecting
basic human rights, peace and democracy. Our idea revolved around
strategic thinking, problem solving and panning agendas under the
theme of peace, not putting too much emphasis on temporary
conflict solutions. People have to understand that peace is a
process in itself. We have to be educated about it. In the same
way, conflict transformation is a procedure, rather than a single
act, and can apply at the micro-, meso-, and macro-levels - at the
intra- and inter- personal, group, community, social, cultural,
national and state levels, and involves a series of events and
approaches. For conflict transformation to be sustainable and
effective, it must address all the levels and manifestations of
the conflict, including the actual causes which gave rise to the
war.
If our leaders fail to guide the moral campaign for
honesty and human dignity, if they are unsuccessful in voicing the
fundamentally humane essence of politics, the oppressed, the
deprived, the humiliated and the dispossessed will have chosen to
forget the humaneness of politics, but will use the solidarity it
entails for violence. If politics does not become a component of
the solution, it will motivate a feeling of trust, and a sense of
peaceful dialogue, which is essential at various levels. First,
there must be dialogue among political leaders; equally important
is a dialogue among people, among leaders, among scholars, and
among lay people.
Now this is a time to talk about all forms of
corruption; economic, social, political, and religious. These
issues will be prominent in negotiations- an infected mind set
will come to the forefront: people will talk about sacrifice for
their country, but they expect to sacrifice from the other side
only. All the parties will be engaged in power grabbing
strategies, rather than dealing with real and practical issues.
Maoists understand that if democratic forces are
marginalized, they can rule for a couple of years, maybe a couple
of decades, but after that we will be in the same chaos, and the
country will be plunged into a civil war again trying to throw the
Maoists out of power. Political negotiations and power sharing is
just the beginning. The country should be repaired rapidly;
otherwise political peace will mean nothing: "Millions of hungry
stomachs can not survive on peace; they need a piece of bread on
their plates".
An energetic civic society is forever needed for
leading the community movement, because a strong civic society is
the foundation of democratic development and creation of a just
and equitable society. In any time of conflict and politics when
political leaders fail, it is the civic society that plays the
lead role in brining about a tangible and lasting solution to
problems facing the nation and community for the betterment of the
future. Nepal, too, is not an exception. Maoists should realize
the importance and necessity of peace and stability for their
long- lasting identifications.
The main formula for the solution of the conflict
is peace. War and human rights can not move each other. Where
there is war of course, there are violations of human rights. In
my opinion, if there are political instabilities, there arise many
problems in every field of the country. Taking this view in mind,
first of all, we have to clear that multi - party democracy and
constitutional monarchy are nature's gift for Nepal. Thus, the
King and political party, to make a clear view go forward, must go
hand in hand to solve problems. After finding a common point, they
should call the Maoists for peace talks. The Maoists should take
part with their agendas with the aid of a mediator from the United
Nations (UN). Governments should accept the UN's proposal for
mediation, which serves not only to restore the Maoist problems;
but also to reconstruct the perplex constitutional exercise and
infrastructure that was damaged during the civil war.
Maoist problems are political and should be solved
politically. If there is doubt with any issues, then let's develop
the culture to go to the people for the last decision. Let's wake
up, it's too late, and take it seriously: we have already lost
12,300 lives and 10 years because the country has wanted peace and
improvement through the wrong means.
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