Nepal Police told to prevent human rights violations

Kathmandu, July 5

Minister of Home Affairs Ram Bahadur Thapa today directed Nepal Police to review its national responsibility of protecting human rights in the changed context.

Addressing a day-long workshop on ‘Role of Nepal Police in Promotion of Human Rights’ organised here today, Minister Thapa said, “It is time for Nepal Police to ascertain whether it is violating human rights in the course of neutralising unlawful and criminal activities and act accordingly.” He also asked police personnel to conduct criminal investigation by identifying its source and objective grounds.

“Protection and promotion of human rights is an important issue as the country has entered a new era after a long political movement,” Minister Thapa said, adding that organised crimes had posed a threat to societies not only in Nepal but across the globe. “The more we succeed in controlling crimes the more we will be able to protect and promote human rights. The government is ready to support Nepal Police for the protection of human rights,” he said.

Inspector General of Police Sarbendra Khanal said the security agency was committed to moving ahead in a transparent and accountable manner for the protection of human rights by utilising its available resources.  “We will develop a future course of action to address the challenges facing Nepal Police in the area of human rights,” he said.

Various persons had presented working paper on human rights at the workshop. Other speakers said police were at the forefront of investigations into criminal and civil offences associated with rights violation and hence should be able to prevent such cases.

Human Rights Unit of Nepal Police trains personnel to be sensitive to human rights issues each fiscal. Training for Trainers on Human Rights and Law Enforcement for Senior Officers and Junior Officers, Training for International Humanitarian laws, orientation across the region on human rights and workshops on strategies to be adopted for prevention of abuses are some of the activities the unit carries out.

The annual report released by the National Human Rights Commission in December had said that the overall rights situation in the country was not satisfactory. It stated that the use of force by security personnel during protest and protesters’ violent activities against security personnel endangered the people’s right to life. According to the rights body, impunity continues to exist and the country is witnessing criminalisation of politics and politicisation of crime.