NEPAL: UN HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICIAL PLEDGES CLOSER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 000326

SIPDIS

NOFORN

STATE FOR SA/INS AND DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/19/2014
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV NP UN
SUBJECT: NEPAL: UN HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICIAL PLEDGES CLOSER
COMMUNICATION WITH GON AND US

REF: KATHMANDU 310

Classified By: AMB. MICHAEL E. MALINOWSKI. REASON: 1.5 (B,D).

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SUMMARY
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1. (C/NF) In a February 17 meeting with the Ambassador,
Gianni Magazzeni, Geographic Teams leader from the UN Office
of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR),
acknowledged that a UN-proposed hman rights accord will
likely face resistance from the Government of Nepal (GON)
unless the UN does a much better job of persuading the GON of
the merits of the accord. Magazzeni indicated that the OHCHR
"needs to get down to the nuts and bolts" of basic monitoring
with the National Human Rights Commission, and "leave the
human rights accord aside" for the time being. The
Ambassador agreed with Magazzeni on the need for technical
support to strengthen the National Human Rights Commission.
In a separate conversation, Magazzeni confided to the
Ambassador that the local OHCHR representative, who has not
attempted to maintain contact with either the GON or the
Embassy, was viewed as an "unmitigated disaster" by Geneva
and was being "fired." End summary.

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OHCHR REDIRECTING EFFORTS ON
NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
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2. (U) On February 17 Gianni Magazzeni, Geographic Teams
leader from the UN OFfice of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights (OHCHR),called on the Ambassador to enlist USG
support for a UN proposal to provide technical assistance to
Nepal's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Magazzeni
was accompanied by Matthew Kahane, UNDP Resident
Representative, and Nicholas Howen, OHCHR regional
representative.


3. (C) Magazzeni opened the conversation by suggesting that
the OHCHR is refocusing its priorities on providing technical
assistance to the NHRC, rather than on persuading the
Government of Nepal (GON) and the Maoists to sign a draft
human rights accord. (Note: UN-provided assistance to the
NHRC was originally proposed as a follow-on to the signing of
the human rights accord, which was drafted during the 2003
ceasefire. The NHRC, assisted by the UN, was supposed to
monitor both parties' compliance with the terms of the
accord. Neither the Maoists nor the GON has signed the
accord. End note.) Whether or not the accord ultimately is
signed by both parties--and Magazzeni indicated substantial
doubt that it would be in the near term--the NHRC needs
international support to fulfill its constitutional mandate
and become an impartial, effective and reliable human rights
monitoring body. Strengthening the autonomous NHRC will
reinforce the message that responsibility for human rights is
not limited to one party in the conflict, while underscoring
that the battle against terrorism cannot be won by
sacrificing respect for human rights, he said. The subject
of human rights has, unfortunately, become "very politically
loaded here," Magazzeni acknowledged, so the OHCHR "needs to
get down to the nuts and bolts" of basic monitoring with the
NHRC, and "leave the human rights accord aside" for the time
being. To this end, the OHCHR is proposing a
three-to-six-month intervention to provide such basic
technical assistance to the NHRC, for which, he concluded,
the UN hopes to count on political and financial assistance
from the USG.


4. (C) The Ambassador acknowledged US Mission concerns with
the lack of impartiality in the NHRC, adding that the body
had been virtually paralyzed by internal political and
personal rivalries among its members. Nonetheless, the USG
has been looking for ways to support and improve the NHRC and
help it fulfill its constitutional role of independently
monitoring the human rights situation, he said.

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MORE CONTACT NEEDED WITH GON
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5. (C) The Ambassador noted that John Bevan, the OHCHR's
local representative, had not done a good job of securing GON
support for either the human rights accord or the proposed
assistance to the NHRC (Reftel). As a result, the GON does
not understand the benefit of signing the accord but views it
instead as a potential liability. In particular, the UN
should make a concerted effort to cultivate better contacts
among the Royal Nepal Army (RNA),the Ambassador suggested,
adding that individual officers' and soldiers' experiences in
UN Peacekeeping Operations had helped sensitize them to human
rights issues. The Embassy uses its frequent meetings with
the RNA leadership to emphasize the need to respect human
rights, he said. Magazzeni acknowledged that OHCHR efforts
had been wanting in this area. UNDP ResRep Kahane responded
that UN officials in Kathmandu should do more to exploit the
"natural entree" that RNA participation in UNPKO offers the
UN.


6. (C) The Ambassador also noted that the local OHCHR
representative had made no effort to brief the Embassy on
either the accord or the proposed assistance for the NHRC.
Having just recently examined the revised draft accord--a
copy of which the Embassy obtained from the British Embassy,
rather than the OHCHR itself--the Ambassador said he had
several questions. OHCHR regional representative Howen
offered to meet with poloff to discuss these concerns.

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CHANGING OF THE GUARD
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7. (C/NF) In a separate encounter with the Ambassador at a
social event, Magazzeni described OHCHR's local
representative as an "unmitigated disaster," acknowledging
that he had spent nearly all of his time interacting with
NGOs and sympathetic EU missions, to the exclusion of the
GON, the media, the security forces and the broader
diplomatic community. Magazzeni said the OHCHR
representative will be "fired" soon and replaced by a new
team, headed by an experienced and well-regarded Australian
national, that will work more closely with both the GON and
the U.S.

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COMMENT
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8. (C/NF) With no leverage over the Maoists to enforce
compliance and no effort to persuade the GON of the benefits
of signing, the human rights community here has long
recognized that hopes that either party would sign the human
rights accord were moribund well before the end of the
ceasefire. EU and UN proponents of the accord have done
nothing to allay GON suspicions that the document would be
little more than a vehicle for further international
criticism of its human rights record that exerted no
commensurate pressure on the Maoists. We welcome OHCHR's
decision to recast its efforts in Nepal toward strengthening
the woefully inadequate NHRC. Unfortunately, the activities
of OHCHR's local representative in Kathmandu may have tainted
GON perceptions of OHCHR as a neutral, independent body
capable of instilling such virtues in the NHRC. We are
encouraged to hear that OHCHR in Geneva seems to be taking
steps to address this. We endorse USG political and
financial support of OHCHR's initiative to strengthen the
NHRC.
MALINOWSKI