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Nepal’s Government Continues Rights Abuses Under Martial Law

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19 July, 2005

In Nepal, the ICEM has been informed that GEFONT’s offices have been searched by the police on 18 February. At around 10.30 AM, 15 to 20 policemen entered the building during a union meeting. The police officers searched the premises thoroughly, up to the rooftop, intimidating the trade unionists present and forcing them to leave the building. When they apparently didn’t find what they were looking for, the police left, but not without locking up the GEFONT office, taking the key with them. The offices were kept closed for the whole day and the key was only returned in the evening. The ICEM fears that the invasion by the police was in search of particular high-ranking GEFONT leaders, who the ICEM fears are in danger of being arrested. The ICEM wrote to the Nepalese authorities last week, voicing its concern about the labour rights situation in the country after the sudden dismissal of the Nepalese government, and asking for the protection of trade union leaders from arbitrary arrest.