P6_TA(2005)0058

Nepal

European Parliament resolution on Nepal

The European Parliament,

- having regard to its previous resolutions on Nepal,

- having regard to the European Union Declaration of 3 February 2005 on the royal take-over in Nepal,

- having regard to Rule 115(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas on 1 February 2005 King Gyanendra, in an unconstitutional act, dismissed the government, assumed direct power and declared a state of emergency,

B. whereas by the suspension of key parts of the constitution which protect fundamental rights and freedoms, the placing of party leaders under house arrest, the incarceration of thousands of political and human rights activists, journalists and trade unionists, the enforcement of complete media censorship and the cutting of all communication lines, the country was effectively brought under military rule in a "coup d'état",

C. concerned that Nepal is among the poorest countries in Asia, with almost 40 % of its twenty-three million people living below the poverty line, and that the conflict has had a devastating impact on the already desperately poor rural population,

D. whereas in January 2005 the Nepalese Government ordered the closure of the Tibetan Refugee Welfare Office (TRWO) in Kathmandu, which provided relief services to Tibetan refugees as an implementing partner of the UNHCR,

1. Strongly condemns the seizure of power by King Gyanendra on 1 February 2005 and the subsequent campaign of arbitrary arrests, censorship and general repression, as well as the suspension of fundamental constitutional rights, including freedom of assembly and expression, the right to information and privacy, and the prohibition of arbitrary detention;

2. Underlines that any search for a solution by military means will merely add to and prolong the suffering of the Nepalese people and firmly believes that a negotiated and democratically based solution is the only sustainable way to end the current conflict, recommends that a neutral third party, such as the UN or the EU High Representative for the CFSP, Mr Javier Solana, be involved in arbitrating such negotiations;

3. Calls on King Gyanendra to lift the state of emergency and to restore all fundamental freedom and calls for all parties, once that is done, to work together with a view to re-establishing parliamentary democracy and to start a process to resolve the armed conflict;

4. Welcomes the release of some political prisoners, but remains deeply concerned that other political leaders, students and human rights activists remain in detention or are under house arrest after the royal take-over;

5. Stresses that press censorship and the severing of communications with the outside world prevent public scrutiny of the army's actions and have put the Nepalis at greater risk of abuse, and asks for freedom of the media and communications to be fully restored;

6. Expresses its deep concern at the great number of alleged unlawful killings, widespread torture, impunity and other human rights violations by both the security forces and the Maoists, and appeals to both sides of the conflict to sign human rights accords as a first measure to curb the abuses which are giving rise to anxiety and fear among the population;

7. Calls for the suspension of all military assistance;

8. Calls on the Council to impose smart sanctions against the ruling elites in government and the military until democracy is restored in Nepal;

9. Calls on the EU to review its assistance to Nepal, to scrutinise closely the final destination of all assistance to Nepal in order to ensure that it serves its primary purpose of poverty alleviation, to address the underlying causes of conflict in the country and to fund conflict resolution programmes;

10. Urges the Council and the Commission to support a resolution on Nepal at the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Commission, and urges the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to appoint a Special Rapporteur to monitor the human rights situation in Nepal at its Geneva meeting in March 2005;

11. Calls on both sides of the conflict to accept the deployment of human rights observers under the auspices of the National Human Rights Commission and calls on the EU and the UN to offer technical and financial assistance for this purpose;

12. Calls on the Nepalese Government to allow the TRWO and the representative office of the Dalai Lama in Kathmandu to resume operations, and expresses its concern that the closure might be interpreted as a trade-off with China on the state of emergency;

13. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, King Gyanendra, the Governments of India and the other SAARC member states, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

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