Rule of law: lawyers battling against the odds to hold government and police accountable

The international legal community needs to understand the gravity of the situation in Nepal, a leading Nepalese human rights advocate has told the Gazette in the wake of a march by 15,000 lawyers on the king's palace last month to demand the restoration of civil liberties.


The Himalayan kingdom has been in a state of civil war for the past ten years and in February this year King Gyanendra seized power, imposing a state of emergency.


Mandira Sharma, the founder and executive director of Advocacy Forum, a human rights organisation in Nepal, said that despite the deepening human rights crisis, some lawyers are still working to hold the police and courts accountable for the violations of fundamental human rights committed there despite the dangers they face.


With funding from the UK's Department for International Development, the forum monitors detention centres and police stations, and works to promote justice, the rule of law and respect for human rights. It also provides free legal advice to those detained.


Ms Sharma said: 'Arrests of political activists and human rights workers, extra-judicial killings and disappearances have been common for a long time. Many lawyers have been detained, but now those who criticise the government are accused of corruption or humiliated in other ways.'


She added: 'There is no rule of law in this country, the constitution is not observed, court orders are not observed and basic human rights are violated.'


Ms Sharma said that since the Advocacy Forum was established in 2001, she has lodged more than 200 petitions for habeus corpus. 'It is the only remedy to those illegally detained,' she said. 'The majority are quashed as the security forces simply tell the court that the person named has not been arrested. Where we succeed, the person is frequently re-arrested.'


Earlier this month, Law Society President Edward Nally wrote to Nepal's attorney-general to express concern about the undermining of the independence of the judiciary and habeas corpus, citing two cases of individuals released following a petition and then immediately re-arrested.


Ms Sharma said: 'The international community needs to understand the gravity of the situation. The government does take notice of what international organisations think - interventions from organisations such as the Law Society do have an effect.'


The President of the Nepal Bar Association, Shambhu Thapa, told the Gazette the organisation was working under immense pressure in lobbying for the restoration of the constitution and the rule of law. He praised the judiciary for trying to stand firm despite the obstacles it faced.


A recent Amnesty International report said legal safeguards against human rights abuses had virtually collapsed and Nepal's human rights community has been almost entirely paralysed in recent months, with 45 activists detained, and many others subjected to threats, harassment and obstruction.


The Nepalese embassy in London declined to comment on the situation.