Human rights link to Nepal aid

By Charles Haviland BBC correspondent in Kathmandu, Nepal

Military aid will depend on Nepal improving its human rights record

The United States Congress has passed a bill which for the first time makes military aid to Nepal dependent on human rights improvements.

Washington is a strong supporter of the Nepalese government in its campaign against Maoist rebels.

But recent reports put the country at the top of the world tables for political disappearances.

Since the Maoists started their uprising in 1996, Nepal has become a human rights disaster area.

The Maoists have killed, in gruesome ways, people they regard as collaborators, while the security forces are regularly reported to engage in extra-judicial killings and other acts such as gang rape, unrestrained by the rule of law.

According to the New York-based Human Rights Watch organisation, the bill now passed by both houses of the US Congress deplores what it calls the Maoists' vicious acts.

End torture

But in a new departure, the bill says United States military aid to Nepal's government should only be released once the secretary of state confirms to Congress that Nepal has fulfilled its commitments to human rights.

This means Kathmandu must take effective steps to end torture by the security forces and prosecute those responsible.

It must almost record the number of people it detains, strive to bring them before courts and let Nepal's main human rights body into places of detention.

The bill says the secretary of state may waive these requirements if he or she believes US national interests justify it.

But analysts here say the bill has great symbolic importance as Washington has in the past been accused of blindly supporting the government.