19 April 2012. Advocacy Forum and REDRESS submitted a joint letter to the Prime Minister regarding the torture bill that is about to be tabled in the parliament. Welcoming the initiative taken by the government in criminalizing torture, the organizations have requested it to make the bill that complies with Nepal’s international obligations to human rights instruments. (Click Letter To PM for the full text).
Nepal’s international obligations clearly demand that it criminalize torture and many countries have recommended to Nepal during Universal Periodic Review that it has to take substantive steps towards prevention, investigation and reparation relating to torture. Even the Supreme Court of Nepal, in one of its judgments, has directed the government to criminalize torture, the letter reads.
The two organizations have also requested the PM to provide them with a copy of the bill so they could submit detailed comments on it. They have submitted priority issues that are to be addressed in the bill so that Nepal’s international obligations are fulfilled.
