PRESIDENT, MADHAV KUMAR NEPAL CONSULTATIONS Kathmandu, 14 June: Former Prime Minister and senior UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal Thursday held hour-long discussions with President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav. Nepal has recently been speaking out publicly against Maoists and amid protests from the latter retracted abuses against the ruling party. The former UML General Secretary who lost lections from two constituencies in the2008 was nominated to the constituent assembly (CA) with Maoist help after the humiliating defeats, He has also been critical of former King Gyanendra. Nepal Thursday asked the president to play a role in creating a consensus to break a new national deadlock. UML leader briefed the president on opposition agenda and its demand for a consensus government. Nepal has lately been behaving like the party’s spokesman. Nnnn FOREIGN MINISTRY CONSULAR SECTION MOVES TO OWN BUILDING IN TRIPURESHWOR Kathmandu, 14 June: Foreign Ministry’s consular section, one of the busiest in the ministry, is moving to its own premises in Tripureshwor Friday from Narayanhiti. The consular section is shifting to the building of the Kanti Ishwori School leased out to the school. nnnn UN DELISTS MAOISTS FROM ITS LIST OF SHAME Kathmandu, 14 June: The United Nations Secretary-General has removed Nepal’s UCPN-Maoist from the so-called “list of shame” in his annual report on the children and armed conflict after the former rebel party ended the recruitment and use of children with the progress in the country’s peace process, Keshav P.Koirala reports in The Himalayan Times. . In the report presented to the UN General Assembly and Security Council on April 26 and released on June 11, UNSG Ban Ki-moon delisted Nepal’s former rebel party and Sri Lanka’s Inya Bharathi faction from its annexes after the full implementation of the action plan mandated by the UN Security Council to end the recruitment and use of children. The annexes list the parties that recruit or use children, kill or maim children, commit rape and other forms of sexual violence against children, or engage in attacks on schools and/or hospitals in situations of armed conflict on the agenda of the Security Council, bearing in mind other violations and abuses committed against children. The report covered the period from January to December 2011. Mentioning that the situation in Nepal was included in his previous annual reports, Ban expressed concern over the impending risk to the children though the conflict-related violations against them have significantly decreased in the reporting period. “The presence of armed groups operating with political and often criminal motives, primarily in the Terai districts (southern belt of Nepal) and the Eastern Hills, gave rise to general insecurity in those areas.” The UN leader reported that four children were killed and 11 sustained injuries caused by explosive remnants of war in different parts of Nepal during the reporting period. Out of the total number of cases documented, approximately half of the cases were related to explosive remnants of war planted before the peace process, while the remaining cases were the result of new contamination, he said. According to the report, the United Nations Monitoring Team continued to monitor and follow up on the UCPN-Maoist’s compliance with the action plan for the discharge of the disqualified Maoist army personnel , including the verified minors, and related tasks, signed on December 16 , 2009 between the Nepal government, the United Nations and the former rebel party. “Information collected and verified by the Monitoring Team indicates that at least one out of the seven Maoist army cantonment sites has ceased to distribute payments to the verified minors through the Maoist army commanders,” he wrote in the report. “ In addition, three out of five Maoist army cantonment sites that previously provided shared accommodation to verified minors have now either dismantled them or are no longer using them to maintain a link between the verified minors and the Maoist army commanders. There were no verified cases of returns of verified minors to the cantonments.” What is more, the UNSG has for the first time listed some armed outfits in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq and the Syrian government forces that are responsible for attacks on schools and hospitals in addition to those who recruit, kill and maim, or commit sexual violence. nnnn NHRC ASKS GOVT. NOT TO DECLARE MARTYRS HAPHAZARDLYU Kathmandu, 14 June: The National Human Rights Commission today [Wednesday] called on the government not to declare martyrs in a haphazard manner and dole out funds to the families concerned, stressing the need for laws to curb this practice, The Himalayan Times writes.. Stating that governments declare martyrs based on political connections and provide compensation to their families, NHRC Chairman Kedar Nath Upadhyay demanded that the government do away with this practice and bring laws to govern this. Upadhyay, speaking at a programme that the constitutional rights body had organised to mark its 12th anniversary with Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai as chief guest, suggested that the government practise transparency while recognising someone as a martyr. On the occasion, Upadhyay also came heavily down on the government for not forming Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Commission on Inquiry of Disappeared to handle crimes committed during the decade-long Maoist conflict. “The government has made a few positive efforts, but progress in the transitional justice sector has been tardy. There has been no progress in the formation of key commissions related to transitional justice. Seized properties have not been returned yet and displaced people have not been able to return home,” Upadhyay added. He said protection of human rights has become a tough ask due to the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly without promulgation of the constitution, and urged the government to end the transition as soon as possible. The NHRC chief pointed that the assassination of justice Rana Bahadur Bam and lack of serious efforts on the part of the government to bring the culprits to book, and nexus between criminals and security personnel in some cases points at a precarious security situation. Upadhyay asked the PM to ensure security of the public. On his part, PM Bhattarai said the government is committed to ensuring human rights and said his administration will bring a human rights protection strategy in the near future. He said the government is committed to implementing NHRC recommendations regarding cases of human rights violation. Based on NHRC’s recommendations, the government has already distributed Rs 95 million to conflict victims, Bhattarai said. The government wants to ensure the rights of the people by promulgating a constitution after fresh elections to the CA, lamenting at the failure of the constitution-making body to deliver a constitution this time. United Nations Resident Coordinator Robert Piper urged the NHRC to play a proactive role for the protection of human rights in the current situation, which he described as ‘extraordinary’. nnnn