NEPAL: MAOIST CADRES ALLEGEDLY TORTURE VICTIMS AT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 000972 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/28/2018 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PTER SNAR KHIV UN NP SUBJECT: NEPAL: MAOIST CADRES ALLEGEDLY TORTURE VICTIMS AT A "REHABILITATION CENTER" Classified By: Ambassador Nancy J. Powell. Reasons 1.4 (b/d). Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) Cadres affiliated with the Maoists' youth wing over the past four or five months have allegedly tortured hundreds of current and recovering drug users in a "rehabilitation center" in Balaju on the northern outskirts of Kathmandu. Ekta Mahat (protect),a young former drug user and now an activist for the rights of HIV-positive individuals, is one of just a few victims who have come forward to describe these abuses. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is attempting to investigate this issue and offer protection to victims. The Ambassador is working with OHCHR representative Richard Bennett and with the British Ambassador to ensure that Mahat and other victims are afforded protective shelter and that the Maoist-led government puts an immediate end to these Young Communist League atrocities. YCL Cadres Torture Drug Users -------------- ¶2. (C) Over the past four or five months, cadres affiliated with the Communist Party of Nepal - Maoist's Young Communist League (YCL) have allegedly forced hundreds of current and recovering drug users to a "rehabilitation center" in the Balaju Industrial Park, on the northern outskirts of Kathmandu, and subjected them to physical and psychological abuse. Ekta Mahat, a young HIV-rights activist and former drug user who was tortured at this facility in early August and who had come forward to USAID contractors, shared her ordeal with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on August 21 at post's request. She also spoke to the DCM at post. The YCL abuse is supposedly to cure victims of their drug habits and includes severe beatings, inserting syringes under fingernails, binding limbs and hanging the victims upside down, and shaming with nudity and verbal insults. Victims are identified in known hot spots where drug transactions take place and through mobile phones stolen from other victims or drug dealers. When victims are released, the YCL cadres threaten to recapture and torture them again if they talk to anyone. Center Operates Without Scrutiny -------------- ¶3. (C) Rajiv Kafle, President of the National Association of (HIV) Positive People/Nepal (NAP N),told the director of Mission's USAID health program on August 20 that he believed the Balaju center may actually be a registered NGO run by "Wives of YCL." Kafle said that the YCL brings five to seven victims to the center each day. Kafle told post he had informed the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Kathmandu in May that abuse was happening at the center. UNODC documented the report but did not take action. Ganesh Pun, leader of the YCL, seems to be in charge of the Balaju center. The Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) sent Pun to trainings in Goa and to a meeting in Barcelona to learn about issues related to injecting drugs and HIV during the past year, but post is not aware how this was initiated or whether the center existed prior to his training. OHCHR Attempts To Intervene -------------- ¶4. (C) On August 25, a team for OHCHR and the UNAIDS coordinator visited the "rehabilitation center" in Balaju, but none of the occupants would speak to them, according to Richard Bennett, head of OHCHR in Nepal. Conflicting versions of this incident exist; Jackie McPherson of Family Health International recounted to post on August 27 information she learned from the UNAIDS coordinator. According to McPherson, YCL cadres prevented the team from entering the center, claiming that no one was there. OHCHR had been informed that 18 people were inside. The team asked KATHMANDU 00000972 002 OF 002 to speak to three YCL members whose names several victims had given during interviews with the agency the previous week. The cadres denied those persons were there. The OHCHR team refused to leave. Ganesh Pun attempted to exit the compound while the team was waiting, and he too denied the presence of anybody at the center. On August 27, Bennett told the Ambassador that OHCHR intended to make another unannounced visit to the center on August 28 or 29. Comment: Post's Reaction -------------- ¶5. (C) Post believes stories of torture are credible. Even if they occurred as part of a misguided mission to make a new Nepal free of social evils such as drug use, they constitute torture and must be ended. Ekta Mahat in particular is at risk because Ganesh Pun, who had attended a conference in Goa on HIV and injecting drugs with her, would be able to identify her as an informant. Post plans to ensure that Mahat is able to enter protective shelter upon her return to Nepal from the Philippines on August 30. Since her return to post, the Ambassador has spoken with Richard Bennett, head of OHCHR in Nepal, most recently on August 27. She has also conferred with UK Ambassador Andrew Hall. All are gravely concerned about this flagrant violation of human rights. Bennett has agreed to take the lead, including in raising this issue directly with Prime Minister Pushpa Dahal in the coming days if the rehabilitation center is not immediately closed down and steps taken to provide justice to victims. If there is no immediate response to OHCHR's efforts, post and the UK will coordinate in going public with sharp criticism of these abuses. POWELL