By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS
Kathmandu : The UN Thursday expressed concern that Nepal’s Maoists were forcing child soldiers to return to the barracks, reinforcing accusations against the rebels for violating the peace accord on its first anniversary.
The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal (OHCHR) said Maoists had violated children’s rights by forcing those under 18 at the time of their recruitment to return to the makeshift barracks of the guerrilla People’s Liberation Army (PLA) even after they had voluntarily left.
“Forcing or pressuring young people under 18 to return to cantonment sites violates the rights of children, as well as the commitment made by the Maoists and the government of Nepal,” the UN agency that monitors the human rights situation in Nepal at the request of the government said in a statement.
It reminded both sides that the comprehensive peace agreement, signed last November, had agreed to immediately release minors who had been associated with a fighting force, and to provide “necessary and proper cooperation” for their rehabilitation and reintegration.
Mentioning two specific instances, OHCHR-Nepal said two minors who left a cantonment site in Chitwan in south Nepal in May and returned to their homes in Makwanpur District were pursued by Maoist cadres in order to force them to return.
Though the girls were initially saved as a result of intervention by local NGOs and OHCHR, the pursuers went to their home on Monday and abducted one of the fugitives while the other escaped, the agency said.
OHCHR-Nepal came down on the law enforcement authorities, saying they were “unable or unwilling to prevent her abduction” when informed by the Maoists that she would be taken to the cantonment site in Chitwan.
“The Nepal Police have displayed an unwillingness to compel the Maoists to respect the law, despite OHCHR’s intervention with officers at the district and regional levels,” the statement said.
According to the UN agency, the coercion apparently comes on the eve of the verification of the camps by another UN agency, the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) that is managing the arms and combatants of the PLA.
The Maoists locked horns with UNMIN over the soldiers the UN body wanted to be discharged on the ground they were under 18.
The rebels say in a nation like Nepal, people are diminutive due to bad diet and other reasons and are not underage as the UNMIN claims.
OHCHR-Nepal chief Richar bennett said the rebels should abide by the peace accord commitments, respect the rights of minors who have voluntarily started the reintegration process and not force them to return to cantonments.
“The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) must also speed up the process of formally releasing all minors still inside the cantonments so they can return to their families and civilian life,” Bennett said.
“It is also essential that the Nepal Police fulfil its obligation to protect minors who have voluntarily started the process of reintegrating into society, and to ensure security for organizations and persons working to assist the reintegration of these minors.”