Read this article in:
22 February, 2006ICEM News release
While Nepal’s King Gyanendra took the unprecedented decision to call for talks with the Nepalese opposition parties this past weekend, the ICEM believes he must go much further. His request for talks has already been ruled out by the pro-democracy political coalition, and they have vowed to make their protests even stronger.
All through last week, and again on 20 February, the King was forced to release a number of political prisoners after the country’s courts abolished the powerful anti-corruption commission that had imprisoned many of them. Among the dozens released were trade union leaders, political activists and students. All of them had been arrested at different stages of the now year-long wave of royal dictatorial repression in Nepal.
Amid the released trade union leaders was General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) Secretary-General Binod Shrestha. Many of the other detained GEFONT leaders, in total 33, were also set free.
Upon his release, Binod Shrestha thanked the many international organisations that helped make his release possible. “Our freedom became possible because of continuous fight of you comrades in the home and broad support & strong solidarity by the international working class family from the aboard." By way of a special press release, GEFONT thanked the international community again on 20 February.
Many Nepal Trade Union Congress (NTUC) leaders were also released.
Gefont's Secretary-General Binod Shrestha
Despite these releases, dozens of other trade unionists, along with hundreds of political activists, remain in detention or under house arrest. And today, the monarchist regime proved it would push-back against the courts system by re-arresting a top leader of one of the political parties, Krishna Sitaula.
The series of releases came shortly after the 8 February municipal elections in Nepal, which were a dismal failure with virtually no candidates registered and few voters showing up. The lack of participation was the result of a boycott from all sides, including the alliance of seven major political parties. These elections were widely seen, nationally and internationally, as attempts by the king to legitimise his autocratic rule and elect municipal loyalists in preparation for possible national elections next year.
In order to install himself as the supreme leader, King Gyanendra swept aside democracy in February 2005. Since then, hundreds of opposition members, a term potentially applying to virtually everyone in today’s Nepal, have been imprisoned. With many now locked up for months, others have been released within days or weeks, and still others—like Krishna Sitaula—are being re-arrested. After nearly 13 months, civil and political rights are still non-existent in Nepal, states the ICEM, and the despotic Gyanendra must make meaningful retreats from autocratic rule in order for democratic institutions such as trade unions to function.
Together with the Nepalese trade union confederations GEFONT, NTUC, and the Democratic Confederation of Nepalese Trade Unions (DECONT), the ICEM calls for all trade union leaders and members to be released. The ICEM also supports the national Charter of Demands that was presented last week by the three Nepalese confederations to the Nepalese Labour Minister, in an important demonstration of trade union unity.
In an effort to counter the regime’s attempts to amend the labour law by decree and ignore labour rights, this charter includes demands on, among other issues, basic trade union rights, wages and an end to all discrimination.
At a press conference last week, GEFONT Chairman Mukunda Neupane said the regime’s only real option to avoid bitter labour unrest was not to derail social dialogue. He further warned that the "unions request to fulfil the demands within a period of 35 days."