Field Update April 2006

The nationwide general strike called by the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) is entering its third week, with ongoing protests throughout the country. The strike has led to shortages of food and essential supplies in the capital, Kathmandu, and increased the tension in the city. Since Saturday 15 April, the strike has been strictly imposed with limited circulation of vehicles and few businesses opening.

In the regional and district capitals, pro-democracy and anti-monarchy protests have continued over the last week. In both Kathmandu and Pokhara, curfew was lifted and then reimposed in an attempt to control the protests. The response of the security forces to public gatherings has been increasingly violent, even to peaceful protests. There have been reports of live rounds being fired at protestors as well as rubber bullets and tear gas. The ban on public rallies and sit-ins within Kathmandu has been extended. As of April 19, 10 civilians had been killed by the security forces in response to the protests, hundreds injured and detained across the country.

Latest developments

In anticipation of a mass rally organised by the SPA for Thursday 20 April, the government imposed a strict curfew for 18 hours from 2am until 8pm, which was later extended until 3am making a total of 25 hours. No curfew passes have been issued to local media or human rights monitors, and a shoot on sight policy against curfew violators has been reported by the major news outlets. Thousands of protestors gathered on the edge of the curfew zone, estimated up to 100,000 in total, with a number of protesters crossing the curfew line on the outskirts of Kathmandu. The security forces have reacted with force using live rounds, rubber bullets and tear gas against protestors leaving 3 dead in Kathmandu, at least another 7 critically injured and over 40 more injured.

Meanwhile a visit by a special envoy of the Indian Government and a close contact of the Nepali Royal family may lead to a softening of the state position towards talks with the political parties. Madhav Kumar Nepal (CPN-UML General Secretary) and Ram Chandra Poudel (Nepali Congress General Secretary ) have both been released from months of detention.

Civil Society mobilised

There have been many reports of different elements of civil society participating in demonstrations across the country.

Lawyers: On 13 April, over 70 lawyers attending a peaceful demonstration of the Nepal Bar Association were arrested, while 45 were injured. They were held at the Dashrath Stadium, along with numerous others detained at protests across Kathmandu, and then released over the following days. The police reportedly baton charged the demonstrators and fired rubber bullets at the crowd without warning.

Journalists: The situation for journalists reporting on the recent protests has also deteriorated during the last week, with scores of journalists across the country arrested and a number of Nepali and foreign journalists beaten. On 15 April, over 20 journalists were arrested at 2 rallies held in Kathmandu.

Dalit organisations and women's groups have also been mobilised across Nepal, and have held peaceful demonstrations in Kathmandu and other regional capitals. Families of the security forces have been reported as leading pro-democracy demonstrations in Nepalgunj and Chitwan on 15 April. Over 200 professionals were arrested from a rally in Pokhara on 19 April. Even civil servants from the Home Ministry staged a demonstration in the home ministry canteen before 25 were arrested. This is the first time that civil servants have been arrested for holding pro-democracy demonstrations.

Actions by PBI Nepal

In the lead-up to the general strike and protests, the PBI team met and coordinated information with human rights organizations, the OHCHR, and the diplomatic community.

In the first two days of the general strike, the PBI team traveled to a number of protest sites, accompanying local human rights monitors. As curfews were imposed, the PBI team maintained a presence in the Human Rights Home, which served as one of several coordination points for local human rights monitors. The Human Rights Home is a resource center for Nepal's human rights community.

The PBI team is monitoring the situation for human rights defenders in Kathmandu, and to a limited extent, in other parts of Nepal. They are also supporting mobile teams of local human rights monitors, by coordinating information flows through the Human Rights Home and to OHCHR monitors, and by helping identify areas of most intense need.