NEPAL: OHCHR AND UNHCR SEE GRAVE PROBLEMS BENEATH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 000585

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/27/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREF PTER KDEM BT CH NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: OHCHR AND UNHCR SEE GRAVE PROBLEMS BENEATH
THE SURFACE

Classified By: Ambassador Nancy J. Powell. Reasons 1.4 (b/d)

Summary
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1. (C) On May 25, the Representative of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights in Nepal told South and Central Asia Deputy
Assistant Secretary Feigenbaum that Nepal's recent election
and its human rights stance in international circles had
created a misleading picture of the country's human rights
record. In practice, the rule of law faced huge challenges.
Bennett highlighted in particular the problems of impunity
and discrimination. His colleague, who heads the Nepal
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Office
(UNHCR),stated that Government officials were currently
committed to third-country resettlement for Bhutanese
refugees. Dell underlined, however, that UNHCR was greatly
concerned about how a new Maoist-led government would handle
the issue. She and Bennett also noted the difficulties that
Tibetan refugees were facing, especially from the Chinese.

CA Election Creates More Inclusive Parliament
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2. (C) Richard Bennett, who is the Representative of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal
(OHCHR),reported to visiting Deputy Assistant Secretary of
State for South and Central Asia Evan Feigenbaum and the
Ambassador on May 25 that the April 10 Constituent Assembly
election had created a much more inclusive parliament.
According to a recent report by the UN Mission in Nepal,
Nepal will now rank 14th in the world in terms of
representation of women in its legislature. Many more
Madhesis, indigenous nationalities and Dalits than before had
won places in the new Assembly. Most of them, as DAS
Feigenbaum pointed out, were Maoists. Beyond picking better
candidates, the Maoists, Bennett added, had run a more
effective campaign and done their homework.

No Redress For Human Rights Abuses
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3. (C) The OHCHR Representative said his goal now was to see
a new Nepali constitution that was strong on human rights and
drafted with broad public participation. Another high
priority was to deal with the issue of impunity, which had
"blighted" the country and contributed to the Maoist
conflict. In practice, he explained, there was no judicial
redress for those who had been victimized, nor were there any
administrative or other consequences for violations of the
law. Bennett pointed out that no one had been prosecuted for
human rights abuses during the insurgency or since. In Sri
Lanka, nearly all prosecutions had led to acquittals, but in
Nepal, prosecutions never started. The Ambassador mentioned
that parties typically intervened to get cases dropped when
the police were still investigating. Bennett, who was
previously the OHCHR Representative in Afghanistan, said
Nepal's rule of law compared favorably with that country on
the surface. But underneath it was not so different. It had
institutions -- police, courts, etc. -- that were supposed to
deliver justice, but they did not do so.

No Easy Solutions
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4. (C) The OHCHR chief remarked that finding solutions would
require a comprehensive approach which looked at the laws,
the local government structures and the security sector.
Chief District Officers were key. The bureaucracy, which was
dominated by upper caste "pahadis" (hill-origin people),was
only very slowly making room for traditionally excluded
groups. The Maoists were not yet willing to renounce
violence and were attempting instead to expand their Young
Communist League (YCL). He was unsure if the Maoist
leadership had command and control over the YCL, but ventured

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most signs indicated they did, especially in major cities.
Bennett suggested that more pressure needed to be put on them
to end violence and intimidation as means to achieve their
goals. DAS Feigenbaum replied that the U.S. had and would
continue to make clear to the Maoists directly that the
degree to which we could work with them would depend on their
willingness to continue embracing the political process and
abandon violence. State security forces, the OHCHR head
stated, were another problem. They had a tendency to use
excessive force -- because of a lack of capacity or political
will. In the recent past, OHCHR had recorded more killings
by the state than by the Maoists.

Maoists and Other Parties' HR Commitment Questioned
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5. (C) Nepali human rights groups were worried about how
committed a Maoist-led government would be to freedom of
expression and freedom of the press. The Ambassador agreed
that freedom of the press would merit particular attention.
The OHCHR head said that Prachanda had spelled out the
Maoists' commitment in detail, including their views on a
Truth and Reconciliation Commission. DAS Feigenbaum noted
the issue of rhetoric versus reality. Bennett made the point
that the same thing could be said of all the parties. Nepal
had signed up to most of the international human rights
conventions and had met their international reporting
responsibilities well. The Nepali Government did not
criticize human rights law or raise cultural and religious
issues as a bar, but the reality domestically was very
different. Bennett suggested that the best approach might be
to establish a Disappearances Commission and then build on
that to create an effective and broader Truth and
Reconciliation Commission that precluded amnesty for
perpetrators. All the players, including the Nepal Army,
were still in denial.

Publicly Positive, Privately Nervous About Bhutanese
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6. (C) UNHCR Representative Dell admitted that UNHCR was
positive about a Maoist-led government in public, but
privately nervous. She said that opponents of Bhutanese
resettlement had been emboldened by the Maoist victory on
April 10. All indications were that the Maoists were
assisting the anti-resettlement Bhutanese Communist Party;
YCL were speaking openly in the camps against resettlement.
Government officials, in contrast, had become completely
persuaded that resettlement was the way forward. On a recent
visit to a camp, the head of refugee affairs at the Home
Ministry had scolded refugees for not applying for
resettlement. Dell expressed concern the Maoists would give
the civil servants different instructions when they took over
the Home Ministry, but then again, they might not. The
Maoists were saying they would talk to the Indians to put
pressure on the Bhutanese to agree to repatriations. She did
not expect that policy to work any more than it had worked
over the past near to two decades, but it was essentially
harmless.

Chinese Pressure on Tibetans
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7. (C) Dell mentioned that UNHCR had reliable reports that
Chinese police were operating on the Nepali side of the
border with Tibet to prevent Tibetans from fleeing into
Nepal. UNHCR had not yet received permission to travel to
the border to see for itself. She made the point that this
was typically one of the busiest times of the year at the
Tibetan Refugee Reception Center in Kathmandu, but there was
only one Tibetan there. Dell said a senior Maoist leader had
told her that a Maoist-led government would not tolerate
protests against China on Nepal's soil. The question,
however, was whether they would continue to abide by the
so-called gentleman's agreement that allowed Tibetans to

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transit Nepal to India. Bennett said OHCHR's relationship
with the Chinese Ambassador in Nepal had become quite
strained over OHCHR's defense of the Tibetans' right to
peaceful protest in Nepal.

Comment
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8. (C) A new Maoist-led government will inherit many
unresolved issues, among which the most important are issues
of human rights, particularly impunity and discrimination.
How that government handles these issues and the important
question of refugees will affect the U.S. relationship.


9. (U) SCA DAS Feigenbaum has cleared this message.
POWELL