At a time when human rights are under the spotlight in Nepal, a Nepali activist has been elected president of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), a network of over 200 centres around the world that offers treatment to victims of torture, and also engages in prevention and advocacy.

The executive board of the IRCT elected Bhogendra Sharma to the post this week for a three-year term. The 45-year-old has been active in Nepal's human rights movement over the past two decades, and is president of the Kathmandu-based Centre for Victims of Torture (CVICT).

"The board endorsed my idea to launch a worldwide movement against torture from the grassroots up," Sharma said in a phone interview from Copenhagen. "Besides treatment, prevention and awareness, we will have to work more closely with civil society and governments."

Torture as a means of exacting information or confessions has long been rampant in Nepal, but incidences have soared since the insurgency hotted up. Most victims of torture tend to be suspects who are usually innocent, and who face harassment and physical and psychological abuse in the hands of their captors.

Sharma now has to find time to chair the international body to work in his area of choice and commitment while providing treatment and rehabilitation to victims in Nepal, and lobbying with the political parties here to avoid this brutal and inhumane behaviour. As president of IRCT Sharma will need to persuade the United States and the Europeans to eliminate torture as well. Fortunately, unlike other international advocacy organisations, the IRCT has just been awarded the prestigious Conrad N Hilton Humanitarian Prize for 2003 that comes with a $1 million cheque. The award will be presented to IRCT in New York next week in the presence of the Dalai Lama.

While Sharma is excited about his global responsibilities, he is worried by the deteriorating human rights situation back home in Nepal. He told us: "There is no military solution to the Maoist insurgency. We must work towards addressing the underlying causes of conflict and create an overwhelming constituency in favour of peace." (Bhagirath Yogi in London)