| EkChhin
: MS-Nepal
Newsletter Oct-Dec 2001 |
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A state of Emergency does not mean a suspension of human rights
- Sushma
Joshi
A state of Emergency usually leads to the
suspension of certain constitutional rights. The Nepali
government, by declaring a state of emergency, has suspended
certain rights to freedom, including the rights to freedom of
opinion and expression, the freedom to assemble peacefully and
without arms, and the freedom to move throughout the country. News
can be censored, and people can be detained if they are believed
to be a danger to the country’s sovereignty.
Like the United States of America, which recently
suffered a terrorist attack, Nepal has imposed these measures to
stop political instability. In the United States, hundreds of
people, mostly poor immigrants from Pakistan and other countries,
have been detained in secret locations after the World Trade
Centers attack. President Bush recently signed an executive order,
without Congressional authorization, which allows the existence of
military courts. These courts can hold secret trails against the
suspected terrorists. These courts, which suspend citizens’ rights
to information, are unprecedented, and go against the tradition of
free information in the US. The attorney general John Ashcroft has
defended this as a measure in a time of great danger, and as a
deterrent against further terrorism.
Because the United States is a country with a long history of
democracy, citizen groups have mobilized to express their dissent
with the government’s decisions. Sixteen prominent civil rights
organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Human
Rights Watch and others, sued the US government for disclosure of
information about the detained people on December 5, 2001. John
Ashcroft, the attorney general, was summoned before the Senate to
explain why an executive order was made without Congressional
authorization.
Other groups are writing petitions against the
backlash against academics and foreign students that has happened
since September 11. Thousands of small, grassroots organizations
have mobilized to protest, express their views and lobby Congress
on the measures that have been taken since September 11. The
mechanism of democracy, which allows citizens rights to hold
marches and express protest, and even to sue the government, is
alive and well within the United States. Even the mainstream
press, criticized for its one sided view of news, immediately
reported when the lawsuit against the government was filed, and
reported on the possible unconstitutional status of the Patriot’s
Act. Citizens’ groups, which are an integral mechanism of
America’s democratic tradition, would never allow the
unconstitutional suspension of civil liberties, even in a time of
great crisis. And human rights violations would never go
unchallenged within the country, even if the government itself was
involved in it.
Within
Nepal, where democracy is still young, we should also make sure
that the State of Emergency does not lead to a suspension of basic
civil liberties. The police and the army, which maintaining law
and order, are still accountable to the people of Nepal. There can
be no violation of people’s human rights, no misuse of authority
in the name of controlling terrorism. There has to be due process
of law, which includes the free flow of information about what is
happening, where and for what reason.
States of emergencies, and the mobilization of the
military, have often been used for massive human rights
violations, disappearances and genocides in countries like
Argentina, Mexico, Bolivia, Peru and East Timor. The citizen
groups of Nepal should make sure that the traditions of democracy,
which uphold the free flow of information, and the due process of
law, are being observed in our own country.
More information:
The American Civil Liberties Union:
www.aclu.org/congress/l112901a.html
More on the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit:
www.aclu.org/news/2001/n120501b.html
Human Right’s Watch on the military tribunals:
www.hrw.org/campaigns/september11/tribunals.htm
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