Human Rights & Peace Society

Seventh  National Council Meeting

Summary of annual activities report of the central executive committee [CEC ]

[17 July 2003-15 July 2004]

1. Membership: In the stipulated period, the CEC provided membership to the 563 new applicants who accepted the statute and policies of HURPES and paid necessary membership fee. In this period , 829 existing members renewed their membership , bringing the current total registered membership of HURPES to 1392. The accumulated number of people taking membership of HURPES since its inception has reached 3369.

2.Honorary member: In this period , HURPES awarded its honorary membership to Mr. Tek Nath Rizal , veteran human rights defender and democratic leader of Bhutan .

3. District Branches [Committees]: 1 new district committee [DC] have been formed and received the recognition by the CEC during this period taking the total number of DCs to 56. The new DC  is : a]Humla

4. District General Meeting [annual]:  In this stipulated period, 46 district branches [DCs] of HURPES organized district annual general meeting as per district by-laws.

5.National Council Meeting: The sixth national council meeting [NCM] of HURPES, which is apex decision-making body of HURPES,  took place in Biratnagar on  7-8 November 2003 with the main slogan of " Human Rights movement  for permanent peace and national dignity ".

 216 representatives from 46 district committees participated in the council meeting, which passed 6 resolutions on human rights ,peace, non-violence and democracy . 6th national council meeting also passed CEC activities report, account audit  report and financial report, annual plan and budget for the year 2004-2005.The council meeting was jointly inaugurated by 2 senior leaders of Nepal.  Mr.Tek Nath Rizal , veteran democratic leader of Bhutan , a former prisoner of Conscience  who spent more than 10 years in prison of Bhutan  was the special guest of inauguration ceremony. In that occasion Mr. Tek Nath Rizal was  awarded , HURPES honorary membership  for his outstanding contribution in the field of human rights peace and democracy .In the opening session, 2 branches of HURPES Syangja and Udayapur were awarded as best section of the year.

6. Central Executive Committee [CEC] Meeting: 8 CEC meetings [including three  emergency meeting] were held during this period. No CEC member has claimed for the transportation expenses and daily allowances incurred.

7. National Secretariat [NS]: At the national secretariat, 2 permanent  staff members are working at the end of the year

8. Library: The peace society library located at the central office of the organization presently has 839  books and several hundreds  journals.

9. Transparency: Following the organization's policy of transparency, the account and audit report, annual activities report of the year 2002-20023 was made public through press. While doing this it was also made public that if there were any queries of the press, the office of the organization could be contacted with in three days to obtain further information.

10.Fortnightly mailing: As a part of maintaining internal transparency, all the decisions of CEC, information /report about programs and other documents were communicated to all district committees, CEC members, coordinators, founders and members of the membership appeals committee through regular fortnightly mailings.

11.Financial Assistance: HURPES adopted the policy of ,  not to apply any where for funding and totally depend upon its own fund raising, and membership fee . HURPES collected more than one Million Rupees from membership fees, advertisement, and local donations. 

12. Research Missions/visit: HURPES conducted 4 research missions/visits in this period on the incident of extra -Judicial and indiscriminate killings and made public the report  including Bhairahawa, Pokhara , Chitwan, and Siraha. HURPES Makawanpur branch , Bara Branch and Dolakha branch also published 3 different research reports.

13. Campaigns: The organization ran 8 campaigns during this period, which are as follows:

Violence could result  intervention: 27 colloquia in 27 districts  organized on the theme of  violence could result  intervention. Special  concept paper  presented for the program

b]Lets keep  educational sector free  from armed conflict:  In the context of International child rights day [ November 20th] HURPES CEC organized 7 days long program in Kathmandu . HURPES district  committees organized several dozens programs in 15 district.

c] 55th International Human Rights Day: Under the theme of

"call for  forward  looking steps: end of armed politics" HURPES, CEC   organized 10  days long programs in Kathmandu Valley  on the occasion of 55th human rights day on 10 December while 28 district committees organized various programs in 28 districts.

d] HURPES  organized colloquia in 7  districts of Nepal  focusing on so called Government Policy  of distribution of arms to village defense group in the name of self defense and its possible impact on January -February 2004. A concept paper prepared by CEC  of HURPES presented in each program

e] HURPES organized 6 days long program in Kathmandu focused  on fundamental freedom and democratic rights  from 5th February 2004. As part of the first phase program of this campaign , HURPES  organized mass meetings in 6 different place of Kathmandu.

f] HURPES expressed solidarity and actively participated in  peaceful Joint People's movement launched by 5 major political parties for democratic rights  in Nepal from April-May 2004.During this period , HURPES Officials addressed several dozens meetings organized in Kathmandu.

HURPES chairperson Krishna Pahadi and other members arrested 7  times by Police in the month of April -May 2004 in connection to peaceful pro-democracy movement.

g] Campaign for Peace: HURPES organized 7  peace demonstrations in 7 districts of Nepal with slogan of "Peace is our right".

h] HURPES organized one weeklong program in Kathmandu Valley focusing on protection of human rights defenders from 21-26 June 2004 .

As per the time movement launched by HURPES , all program organized this year was held on right time

14. Programs: The programs organized by HURPES, CEC are as follows:

1.On 21 July 2003,Human Rights & Peace Society organized  a press conference in Kathmandu

2. On November 6 ,a massive peace rally was organized in Biratnagar.

3.On 7-8 November 2003, 6th National Council meeting of HURPES was held in Biratnagar. 216 representatives and observers from 46 district branches of HURPES participated .

4-10  . HURPES  organized  7-interaction/discussion programs  in Kathmandu  in the context of international child rights day , November 20th 2003 focusing on educational sector to make free from armed conflict on 14-20 November 2003.

Representatives of different human rights Organizations, Journalists, intellectuals ,Lawyers ,  Chair and members of different Commissions of Nepal, former member of Parliament, representatives from security institutions, eminent Educationist,  Judiciary  and representatives from major  political parties participated in 7 programs.

11-20:In connection to 55th International Human Rights Day,  from November 30-10 December under the main theme of the  campaign "call for  forward  looking steps: end of armed politics", HURPES  Central Executive Committee organized  10 programs in Kathmandu Valley .4 demonstrations/sit in  organized in Kathmandu  valley opposing disappearances and abductions of citizens by security forces and Maoists  and five discussions/interaction was  organized with Senior politicians, writers-Poets, Artists, Human Rights activists and professional organizations. On 10th of December HURPES organized a day long fasting for peace.

21-22.  on 25 December 2003, 2 press  conferences were held  in Hetauda  and Birgunj .

23-28. HURPES organized 7  days long program in Kathmandu focusing on fundamental freedom and democratic rights  from 5-11 February 2004. As part of the first phase program of this campaign , HURPES  organized mass meetings in 6 different place of Kathmandu .

29. HURPES organized a press conference and made public report on Siraha research / Study about Killing of former M. P. H.N. Yadav on 15th March 2004 in Kathmandu.

30.On 23 March 2004, HURPES organized interaction program in Kathmandu against growing trend of disappearances by security forces and abduction by Maoist.

31. In coordination of HURPES ,Human Rights organizations of Nepal jointly organized   protest demonstration  against Government of Nepal  reluctance to issue travel documents to renowned freedom fighter Tek Nath Rizal of Bhutan to attend a meeting in Geneva on 25 March 2004 in Kathmandu.

32.On 15 April 2004, HURPES organized  sit-in/demonstration in Kathmandu demanding release of all  prisoners of Conscience , who were arrested during the peaceful pro-democracy movement . 20 members of HURPES arrested and released same day.

33 . On 1st June 2004,HURPES organized interaction program in Kathmandu to mark its 8th anniversary day in Kathmandu .

34-39. HURPES organized one week long program including Talk program, discussion and interaction and demonstration /sit in ,in Kathmandu Valley focusing on protection of human rights defenders  from 21-26 June 2004 .

15.Publications:

Peace Journals, concept papers, research reports were published during the years. Chitwan and Palpa branch of HURPES also published peace Journals in local level.

16.Press Statements: 49 press releases were issued during the year on different issues of human rights, peace and democracy.

17. Participation in other Programs: HURPES actively participated in other organization's program including National Human Rights Commission and National Dalit Commission.

18.Letter writing: Letter writing was continued in the year to draw attention to different authorities on human rights and peace issues.

19.Program organized by District Committees of HURPES:

1] 27-district branches of HURPES organized special programs in 27 district of Nepal  started from  20th October 2003, under the theme of " Violence could result intervention" .

2]  under the theme of "Let's keep Educational Sector Free from Armed Conflict" ,15 district committees of HURPES organized several dozens programs in 15 district of Nepal.

3] On 10 December 2003,to mark 55th international human rights day, 28 HURPES district committees organized different programs in 28 districts including talk programs, interaction, fasting, demonstration under the main theme of  'call for forward looking steps: end of armed politics '

4]. 7 district committees of HURPES organized colloquia in the month of January /February on so called Government Policy  of distribution of arms to village defense group in the name of self defense and its possible impact.

5] On April -May 2004, 5 district committees of HURPES organized a dozen program during pro-democracy movement in different part of the country.

6] In the month of May-June, 7 branches of HURPES organized 7 peace demonstrations in 7 districts of Nepal with slogan of "Peace is our right".

7] To commemorate 8th anniversary day of HURPES , 8 district committees of HURPES organized different programs in 8 districts.

8] Program in different Schools: HURPES 6 district committees organized human rights education and awareness program in 6 district during the year.

9] 46-district committees of HURPES held district annual general meeting during the year.

10] HURPES Dadeldhura Branch has completed peace awareness campaign in rural area of far western region of Nepal while Udayapur branch organized Peace rally in different village of Udayapur.

Gorkha  district branch organized 14 km peace walk  in district .Some other branches also organized public hearing in different occasion