US embassy cable - 03KATHMANDU1509

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 001509 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SA/INS, DRL, PLEASE PASS TO USAID/ANE 
LONDON FOR POL/GURNEY, NSC FOR MILLARD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/06/2013 
TAGS: PHUM, KCOR, NP, PINR, Human Rights, Government of Nepal (GON) 
SUBJECT: NEPAL'S NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION 
CRITICIZED FOR CORRUPTION, MAOIST SUPPORT 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Michael E. Malinowski for Reasons 1.5 (b,d). 
 
1. (C) Summary.  National Human Rights Commission member 
Indira Rana (please protect) has made serious allegations 
against some of her fellow members, accusing them of gender 
discrimination, corruption and bias in favor of the Maoists. 
In a July 31 meeting, Rana claimed that Sushil Pyakurel, an 
active member of Nepal's main communist party, maintains 
close contact with Maoist political leader Baburam Bhattarai 
and uses his position within the Commission to provide 
information to the insurgents.  Rana also complained that the 
Commission is channeling funds from some European donors to 
leftist, CPN-UML-affiliated NGOs as well as using the money 
for personal benefit.  Rana's complaints echo those by other 
respected members of Nepal's political elite who believe some 
of the many European donors are too sympathetic to the 
Maoists.  End Summary. 
 
2. (C) On July 31, PolOff met with Indira Rana, one of five 
members appointed by the King to sit on the National Human 
Rights Commission.  In June, Rana had publicly aired her 
disagreements with the other members of the Commission and 
accused them of corruption, gender discrimination and 
ineffectiveness.  According to Rana, the Commission Chairman 
and former Supreme Court judge, Nayan Bahadur Khatri, is now 
"in the pocket" of fellow Commission member Sushil Pyakurel 
former head of INSEC, a Nepali human rights NGO, and a leader 
of the Communist Party of Nepal - United Marxist Leninist 
(CPN-UML).  Rana alleged that Pyakurel has offered Khatri a 
Cabinet-level appointment should there be a UML-led 
government.  Rana suggested that, along with Dr. Gauri 
Shankar Lal Das, these three members tightly control the 
activities of the Human Rights Commission.  The fifth member, 
Kapil Shrestha, has been sidelined, with his responsibilities 
curtailed, as a result of a sex scandal last year. 
 
3. (C) Rana claimed that Pyakurel is extremely sympathetic to 
the Maoist cause, maintains close contact with Maoist 
political leader Baburam Bhattarai, and uses his position 
within the Commission to provide information to the 
insurgents.  According to Rana, in late 2002, Pyakurel 
harbored a Maoist leader who had been charged by the 
Government of Nepal with serious crimes.  She claimed that, 
after the Maoist was released on one charge and before the 
police could re-arrest him on the other two charges, Pyakurel 
himself drove to the courthouse, picked up the insurgent and 
sheltered him in the Human Rights Commission building 
overnight.  The next day, he drove the Maoist leader to the 
house of a UML Member of Parliament.  Rana suspects that 
Pyakurel has assisted other Maoist leaders, although he has 
not again used the Commission building, perhaps because, Rana 
said, she confronted him about the issue. 
 
4. (C) Over the following months, Rana became increasingly 
vocal about the absence of administrative procedures and 
oversight within the Commission.  According to Rana, Pyakurel 
colluded with the Commission's Secretary on hiring staff for 
the new Commission.  Together they rigged the examination 
process in order to hire family members and UML-affiliated 
contacts.  As a result, the staff is incompetent, Rana said, 
and the Commission has had to hire computer and 
administrative trainers -- the same people that had applied 
for staff positions and been rejected. 
 
5. (C) Rana also witnessed impropriety with the Commission's 
handling of donor funds.  Rana claimed that all donor 
funding, but particularly that from Norway and Denmark, had 
been channeled only to UML-affiliated NGOs and also had been 
used for personal profit by other Commission members.  In 
particular, she cited a Norwegian project worth USD 25,000 to 
advance the status of dalit, or low-caste, members of 
society.  Led by Kapil Shrestha, the project produced no 
results, she said, noting that Shrestha did not even provide 
a written report of the project. 
 
6. (C) Rana also believed that Pyakurel Lal Das and Khatri 
have used donor funding for extensive traveling.  She 
mentioned that the new Secretary to the Commission, Kadar 
Poudel had gone abroad nine times in the past nine months. 
The other members of the Commission regularly spend weekends 
at nice hotels for so-called "retreats," she said.  Rana also 
mentioned that Pyakurel allocates himself 10,000 Rupees per 
diem for his travel within Nepal as compared with the 
standard GON per diem of 1,000 Rupees.  After Rana questioned 
the appropriateness of this higher per diem, Pyakurel claimed 
that, as a politician, he must "wine and dine" political 
contacts and, therefore, required more per diem.  Rana also 
noted that, before working as head of INSEC, Pyakurel was 
poor.  Now, however, he owns two homes in Kathmandu as well 
as two rental properties, she said. 
 
7. (C) After months of observing and criticizing this 
behavior, Rana said she became increasingly sidelined by the 
Commission's Chairman, Pyakurel and Lal Das.  Her 
responsibilities have been taken over by Pyakurel and she is 
no longer invited to meetings nor is she permitted to see the 
Commission's budget or minutes of the meetings.  Rana's 
responsibility for overseeing the prison system is now 
conducted by Pyakurel   Rana claimed that Pyakurel uses his 
visits to prisons in order to meet jailed Maoist cadres and 
later provides information to the Maoist leadership on their 
status.  Pyakurel also uses his visits to RNA and police 
posts to provide sensitive information to the Maoist 
leadership, she claimed. 
 
8. (U) Biographic note:  Indira Rana is a well-respected 
lawyer and dynamic human rights activist.  She received an 
MPH in Law and Population from Harvard University.  Rana has 
served the Government of Nepal for 35 years in many 
capacities, including Secretary to the Judicial Council and 
Judicial Service Commission, District Court Judge and as an 
advocate to the Supreme Court.  She is an activist for human 
rights and women's empowerment and has traveled extensively 
for conferences related to women, law and criminal justice. 
Rana was a member of the international election observation 
team for the 1999 Presidential election in Sri Lanka.  She is 
unmarried and her English is very good.  End Biographic note. 
 
9. (C) Comment.  Indira Rana's reports on the Commission's 
misuse of donor funds and Maoist sympathies could be 
motivated, in part, by her resentment at being marginalized 
and isolated.  However, her allegations are consistent with 
other reports Post has received.  In fact, the Commission to 
Investigate Abuses of Authority is examining a case against 
Pyakurel for improper use of funds.  Sadly, many of the other 
self-proclaimed human rights organizations in Nepal suffer 
from similar problems of corruption, nepotism and political 
partisanship. 
 
10. (C) Comment Continued:  The National Human Rights 
Commission, encouraged and supported by donor countries since 
its inception in 2000, appears to be totally dysfunctional. 
Its bias toward the Maoists has made it unsuitable as a 
mediating institution in peace talks between the government 
and Maoists.  Post is particularly concerned that European 
donor governments could harm the peace process by channeling 
funds through organizations like the Human Rights Commission 
without providing sufficient oversight to ensure that the 
funds are not used in direct support of the Maoists.  In 
fact, Post has learned that certain European donors are 
pushing the GON to authorize the Commission to monitor all 
violations of the cease-fire code of conduct.  While such a 
monitoring mechanism is probably a good idea, Post does not 
believe the Commission can effectively or fairly play this 
role.  Rana's complaints echo those by other respected 
members of Nepal's political elite who believe many European 
donors are too sympathetic to the Maoists (septel), giving 
the rebels a false sense of international acceptability that 
aggravates their aggressiveness in talks with the GON.  End 
Comment. 
MALINOWSKI