OPROEP VOOR DE 13E SEPTEMBER

Stop the Deportation of Nepalese Asylum-seekers from Belgium

The Belgian Government is deporting asylum-seekers from Nepal. Nepalese refugees have been denied refugee status and residence permit in Belgium and are being deported in increasing numbers. Till now not a single Nepalese asylum-seekers has been recognized by the General Commission for the Refugees and Stateless of Belgium.

Nepal is in a state of deepening all-round crisis. Much of the country today is undergoing social convulsion, political ferment and insurgency. These have been caused by intense exploitation and ruthless oppression leading to untold misery of the people by both the local elite and foreign exploiters.

In the cities, as well as the countryside, the government's army and its armed police force have been carrying out, and continue to carry out brutal repression campaigns against, not only the rebellion, but also the populace at large. These campaigns are marked by massacres, rapes and mass-arrests of many people, most of whom are innocent civilians.

Since 26 November 2001, Nepal is experiencing extremely dark days. The government has imposed a State of Emergency, thereby openly ending any pretence of practising democracy. Not only are searches and arrests (without warrant) intensified, disappearances of persons taken into police custody have become common with each passing day. There is no legal due process in Nepal today.

Newspapers have been closed down, offices raided and journalists arrested, and at least one well-known journalist was recently tortured and murdered after his capture. There has also been severe curtailment of freedom of movement and assembly. Such are the harsh realities in Nepal today. These are all well-known facts.

No part of Nepal today is safe for the people. Yet the government of Belgium is continuing its practice of deportation. In deporting asylum-seekers from Nepal, the Belgian government is sending them to almost certain arrests, imprisonment and very possibly, torture and death. Hence, the Belgian government must bear full moral and legal responsibility for the arrests, detention, disappearance and death of each and every person returned to Nepal.

MEMORANDUM VOOR 13 SEPTEMBER(english)

The Honourable Minister of Home Affairs, Belgium
The Ministry of Home Affairs, Belgium

We are political refugees from Nepal, seeking asylum in the Kingdom of Belgium. We wish to bring the following to your considerate attention, which is of utmost urgency. Your decision on the matter could decide our fate, that is, it is a matter that will decide whether we live or die, possibly very horrible deaths.

Nepal today is in crosshairs. There is an on-going civil-war. This cannot and should not be denied by anyone. The evidences are overwhelming and continue to mount. The civil-war has today reached a high point in which one part of the Nepalese society is pitted against the other, in a titanic life-and-death conflict.

The Nepalese government, which is seeking to crush the country-wide rebellion through military means, in order to solve its political problems, has now reach a point of no return. Nevertheless, it is not able to overcome its opposition through armed-might.

In the meantime, the limited democratic rights activated by the People's Movement of 1990 have been eroded,especially by the government's new state of emergency, until they are virtually non-existent today. Hence, the fundamental rights of the people are no longer respected by the government.

Honourable Minister, we wish to state here categorically that in Nepal today, gang-rape of women by soldiers of the Royal Nepalese Army and the police personnel of the armed police force and the government's para-military forces have become common occurrences. Moreover mass-murders, looting of people's property, arson, arbitrary arrests, torture and disappearances of arrested persons take place everyday. These are perpetrated by the very government forces which are expected to protect the people. We attach herewith a copy of the Amnesty International Report 2002.

Sir, we feel deeply compelled to bring to your attention that anyone opposing or protesting the atrocities carried out by the government armed-forces is liable to be labelled a "terrorist." This is calumny in the extreme.

Under these fast developing situation, many people took flight. Those of us who have arrived in Belgium, as asylum-seekers, have been under very great anxiety, and indeed trauma, in learning about the fate of our loved ones in Nepal. Added to these grave concerns now there is real fear of being deported. to Nepal. Being returned to the deplorable and horrendous conditions in Nepal would mean the denial of our most basic human rights which your government rightly champions. Thus, sir, we most respectfully request you to process our application for asylum with understanding and sympathy.

NPPFB