Forgot your password?
UN Grieves Over Demise Of Nepalese Human Rights Defender
By KTM Metro Reporter in Kathmandu
April 20, 2010: in a statement released in Kathmandu on April 19, 2010, the United Nations Human Rights Office in Nepal (OHCHR) has expressed its grief over the death of the Nepalese human rights defender Jay Kishore Labh, and has said that he was a determined man that had pursued justice tirelessly despite personal ill-health.
“Jay Kishore Labh was a sensitive and determined man who, despite health problems that were almost certainly exacerbated by the anguish of his loss and his outrage at ongoing impunity, fought courageously to obtain justice for his son and others who were disappeared,” Richard Bennett, OHCHR representative in Nepal said in a statement.
“I would like to extend my deepest condolences to his family on behalf of OHCHR and once again call on the authorities in the Home Ministry to disclose the fate of the disappeared students in Danusha and bring to justice those responsible,” he added.
Mr. Labh’s son, Sanjiv Kumar Karn along with four other students disappeared in October 2003 after the police arrested them have never been found. Mr. Labh, a lawyer, fought tirelessly demanding the disclosure of the fate of the disappeared students and insisting on bringing those responsible for their disappearance to justice.
The case has become a symbolic one for many victims and human rights defenders including OHCHR. When the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay visited Nepal last year, she met with Mr. Labh and other family members of the disappeared.
Ms. Pillay also met with the superintendent of police in charge of Danusha district and urged him to complete the investigation into the disappearance of the five students. OHCHR has continued to follow up on the case, along others.
The fate of most of those disappeared by the State and by the then Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist during the conflict remains unknown despite the repeated requests for making known the whereabouts of their loved ones by the families and human rights organizations.
