Anmesty International launched a worldwide campaign against torture from Nepal last week. The campaign aims to build public opinion to make torture a punishable offence. Speaking to reporters on the occasion, AI Secretary General Pierre Sane said that torture of children, women and prisoners of conscience is a problem in Nepal. He also said that the Maoists, who claim to be fighting against similar atrocities by the government, themselves have a bad record where torture was concerned.

Sane noted with surprise that Nepali politicians, many of whom have has first-hand experience of torture in Nepali jails, are hesitant to enact laws that would make it a criminal offence. Nepal has a law to compensate torture victims but its implementation is cumbersome because it requires torture to be proved. Compensation is also delayed because of the time cases take to get a court hearing.