and Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)9 as well as other national governments10 have repetitively appealed to the Nepalese Government to ensure Dr. Raut’s freedom of expression and rights to peaceful assembly, demanding his release as well as droppings of all of charges filed against him. But the Nepalese Government, in the lack of enough international pressure and strict measures against impunity, has not listened to them and continued violent brutal suppression of youths and activists in Nepal. Only in the peaceful protests against the promulgation of Nepal’s discriminatory constitution in 2015, which Madheshis have rejected, the Nepalese Government killed more than 60 people.11 Most recently, Dr. Raut was arrested on 2nd February 2017 and tortured in police custody for 86 days for organising peaceful mass-rallies on 18th January 2017 to celebrate the Martyrs’ Day, attended by an estimated quarter a million people throughout Madhesh/Terai. For this, the Government of Nepal also issued orders to freeze all of his properties and bank accounts, leaving his pregnant wife and two little children in jeopardy.12 Even this week, 10 of his supporters were arrested by Nepal Police, from peaceful rallies marking Anti-Racism Day on 26th November and for advocating for “right to reject” in the upcoming election. With such unabashed brutal suppression on their most popular icon, and in overall on the whole of the minority and disadvantaged community, by the Nepalese Government, and the inaction of the international community and particularly the United Nations on this issue, youths are feeling helplessness and their resentment for the state is ever growing and the chances of them being radicalised and resorting to violence and another civil war is ever increasing. Nepal has been a signatory to 24 international human rights-related conventions and treaties,13 including those related to civil and political rights; economic, social, and cultural rights; rights of the child; rights of persons with disabilities; the elimination of discrimination against women; the elimination of racial discrimination; and against torture. Therefore, the United Nations and the international community should come 9 Asian Human Rights Commission, “Immediately release Doctor Chandra Kant Raut who have been confined into illegal and arbitrary confinement,” Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-132-2014, September 13, 2014. URL: http://www.humanrights.asia/news/urgent-appeals/AHRC-UAC-132-2014 10 UK Parliament, "Nepal: Human Rights Written question - 11243," October 16, 2015, URL: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-1009/11243 ; "European envoys' meeting with Nepalese activist sparks furore," Yahoo News, January 27, 2015. URL: https://in.news.yahoo.com/european-envoys-meeting-nepalese-activist-sparks-furore-112004627.html; "EU rejoinder regarding press reports on a meeting with Dr. CK Raut,” Embassy of France, February 11, 2015, URL: https://np.ambafrance.org/EU-rejoinder-regarding-press ; "India courts radical Madhesis from Nepal," The Hindu, January 29, 2016. 11 Human Rights Watch, “Like We are Not Nepali”, http://ehrp.org/joint-letter-on-h-res-128-from-coalition-of-nongovernmental-organizations/, 2015. 12 Asian Human Rights Commission, “Dr. C.K. Raut’s properties and bank accounts frozen and passport annulled by the government,” April 11, 2017, http://www.humanrights.asia/news/ahrc-news/AHRC-STM-024-2017 13 http://undocs.org/en/A/72/347 Page 3 of 4

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