Demonstration and Submittion of Memorandum to the Speaker of Interim Legislature-Parliament Demandint Accession to the ICC Treaty

PROGRAMME SUMMARY
Nepali human rights defenders came to the streets once again demanding immediate accession to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) by Nepal Government. It was seven months after the unanimous approval of a commitment proposal by the House of Representatives (HoR) that directed the government immediately accede to the ICC Treaty on 25 July 2007, human rights defenders reiterated their demands of accession submitting a memorandum to the Speaker of the Interim Legislature-Parliament coincided with the demonstration in Kathmandu on 1 March 2007.

Jointly organised by nine Nepali human rights organisations, human rights activists, journalists, lawyers and intellectuals staged sit-in calling upon the government to fulfill the commitment passed by the parliament. The participants held placards showing slogans like "Accede to the ICC Treaty Now!", "Fight against Genocide, Crime Against Humanity and War Crimes", "Oppose Impunity, Uphold Human Dignity", "We demand Immediate Ratification of the Rome Statute".

Following an hour demonstration, representatives of the organisers submitted a memorandum to Rt. Hon. Subas Nembang, Speaker of the Interim Legislature-Parliament demanding immediate accession to the ICC Treaty. On the occasion Hon. Anand Prasad Dhungana, Hon. Mahendra Prasad Pandey, Hon. Dinanath Sharma and Hon. Tek Bahadur Chokhyal, Chief Whips respectively of Nepali Congress, CPN (UML), CPN (Maoist) and Nepali Congress (Democratic) were also present. Other parliamentarians present while submitting the memorandum to the Speaker include Hon. Parashu Ram Meghi Gurung of CPN (UML), Hon. Ganesh Bahadur Shah of Nepali Congress (Democratic) and Hon. Malla K Sundar of CPN (Maoist).

Receiving the memorandum, Speaker Nembang expressed dissatisfaction over the delay in acceding to the Rome Statute by the government despite the parliamentary directive proposal seven month ago. Assuring that the parliament would take further initiative to push forward this agenda to the levels possible, Speaker Nembang expressed his full commitments for the accession to the treaty.

Organisers of the programmes included Amnesty International Nepal, Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), National Coalition for the ICC (NCICC)/Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC), Human Rights and Peace Society (HURPES), Advocacy Forum, Joint Forum for Human Rights (JFHR), Human Rights and Democratic Forum(FOHRID), Women Foundation, and Human Development and Peace Campaign (HUDEP).