A significant number of human rights violations in Nepal take place at detention centers and since the peace accord there continue to be reports of such violations. Advocacy Forum (AF) tries to protect detainees from unlawful practices. We document cases of torture; illegal detention; denial of access to lawyers/ family members and medical services; falsification of key legal documents and evidence by investigating agencies. If any person is found to be detained illegally, we register a case of habeas corpus within 24 hours. AF also helps victims to file petitions for medical examinations and cases under the Torture Compensation Act. We demand compensation for victims and pursue cases until we have exhausted domestic and international channels.

Advocacy Forum visits 35 detention centers in 16 districts across Nepal regularly documenting, questioning and challenging the routine practice of torture and illegal detention. Between 2001 and December 2006, AF visited a total of 8,860 detainees. Among them 8,298 were male, 562 were female, and 1,597 were juveniles. Visiting detention centers has proven to be an effective tool in improving the conditions of detainees held in custody in Nepal.

The custody monitoring team of AF aims to promote and protect the constitutional rights of the detainees, as well as to increase people's confidence in the police and the judiciary. We encourage those in authority to fulfil their constitutional obligations by urging them to ensure that detainees have the right to lawyers. We provide legal aid counselling to those in custody and hold quarterly consultation meetings bringng all major stakeholders of the criminal justice system together. We work to promote and protect the constitutional rights of the detainees, as well as to increase people's confidence in the police and the judiciary. AF's continuous efforts have led to some significant results, although much still needs to be achieved in order to improve the criminal justice system. We now cover the following 16 districts of Nepal: Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Morang, Dhanusha, Banke, Bardiya, Surkhet, Kaski, Baglung, Kapilvastu, Rupendahi, Kanchanpur, Ramechap, Dolakha and Parbat.

About Torture in Nepal:   Torture predates Nepal's conflict but the decade long internal armed conflict has resulted in an increase in gross and systematic violations of human rights. Unfortunately, human right violations are not just incidences of the past, they continue to be a real problem. Poor, marginalised groups, dalits and children are the most affected groups and continue to suffer. Detainees are frequently tortured, denied contact with lawyers or their family and illegally detained. Unfortunately it is the police, the very people who are supposed to uphold the law that are disregarding the rights of others. It is unsurprising that such widespread abuse of detainees has contributed significantly to a lack of confidence in the justice system.