NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION 1.1. Present Status of Human Rights in Nepal As in the previous reports, there has not been any significant improvement in the human rights situation during the period covered by this report. Although there had been faint hopes for the ceasefire between His Majesty’s Government and the Maoists, the failure of peace talks between the two parties has only led to further deteriovation of the human rights situation in Nepal. Many innocent people have lost their lives in the ongoing armed conflict and many more have become orphans, disabled and crippled. The number of people who have disappeared, abducted, tortured or harassed are also on the rise which has further deteriorated the image of Nepal in the international community. According to the reports of the Amnesty International, Nepal comes as one of the top countries with regards to the-new-cases of disappearances. This reflects the weakening human rights condition in Nepal. As in the previous year, many cases of abduction, torture and harassment were reported to the Commission. On the one hand, the Maoists are continuing their violence by killing those who they suspect are state informants, and whoever they believe are against their ideology of people’s war; on the other hand, the state has also not abided by the law and the judicial procedures of the constitution, and has thus violated the human rights by continued killing, torturing and harassing of the innocent civilians. The lives of many innocent people have thus been seriously affected due to the continued violence involving the use of children as human shields, abduction, torture, extortion, confiscation of innocent people’s property, closure of educational institutions and road blockades. Although both the state and the Maoists have verbally made commitments to respect human rights and humanitarian law, none seem to have practiced it in reality. The investigation conducted by the Commission on Doramba incident, Nagi incident and Siraha incident that occurred during the period of ceasefire, clearly reflects the gross negligence of human rights situation in Nepal.The National Human Rights Commission of Nepal is taking various initiatives to make its role more effective in the process of peaceful resolution of the conflict.This includes the dialogues and discussions with the parties that are directly involved with the conflict, various interactions with the state, submission of the draft human rights accord to the parties of conflict, providing practical advice to His Majesty’s Government in the implementation of the 25-point human rights commitment and in the recent times, making public the minimum steps that the state and the Maoist have to take to ensure their human rights commitments. Due to the limited human and capital resources, the Commission has not been able to perform its job to the desired expectations. However, with the continued support and trust of both the national and international organizations, civil society and the Nepalese people, the Commission has established its identity within a very short period of its establishment. In order to regulate its work and make it more effective, the Commission has also formulated a Strategic Plan of Action 2004-2008 which has been implemented recently. Similarly, the Commission has also expanded its horizons by establishing two regional offices, one in each Eastern and Mid-Western region. Both are now in the final phase of their construction. 2