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Fourteen human rights and academic groups in Asia have jointly alerted the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its state parties to the grave human rights violations in Nepal that could amount to crimes against humanity.
 
The ICC, whose purpose is to prevent such serious offences, should do whatever it can to help stop and avert any mass rights violations, the groups said.
 
"We urge the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC and the state parties to take all feasible steps to stop the ongoing crimes that fall within the mandate of the ICC as well as to take preventive measures, by way of diplomatic channels and other means, to avoid further crimes against humanity," the groups said in a joint statement.
 
The statement was issued in Bangkok on Sunday after a regional meeting on the ICC campaign, which was convened by the Asia Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA).
 
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) was one of signatories of the statement and a participant at the meeting.
 
On Monday, the Hong Kong-based AHRC sent a letter to Luis Moreno-Ocampo, prosecutor of the ICC in The Hague, to urge him to initiate appropriate action over the situation of Nepal after King Gyanendra assumed absolute power on February 1.
 
People in the Himalayan kingdom, particularly political leaders, lawyers, journalists and human rights defenders, face daily threats and dangers posed by the authoritarian and military rule of the country.
 
Reports of attacks, arrests, torture, extrajudicial killings, rape and forced disappearances are alarming. Civil liberties are being suppressed.
 
"The February 1 coup in Nepal has brought the country under the control of the military, which has undermined the rule of law and cast doubt upon Nepal's ability to fulfil its international obligations," the 14 groups said in their Sunday statement.
 
"If the ongoing violations are to continue on a mass scale, which is very likely, they may amount to crimes against humanity; the very purpose of the ICC is to prevent such crimes," the statement noted.
 
The groups demanded the government of Nepal and the insurgent Maoists to put an immediate end to arbitrary detention, torture and extrajudicial killings.
 
They also called on the United Nations, with all its mechanisms, including the special procedures to intervene with the relevant Nepali authorities before the country's situation reached a "catastrophic level".
 
"We specifically urge for a U.N. envoy to be permanently present within Nepal so as to facilitate the return to democracy, and that the U.N. appoint a special rapporteur to constantly monitor the human rights situation in Nepal," they said.
 
"Without pressure from the human rights community, world governments and specifically the United Nations, the rights of the Nepali people will continue to be denied and the future of their country will continue to be at risk," they appealed.
 
The 14 groups are the AHRC, FORUM-ASIA in Thailand, the Asian Network for the International Criminal Court, the Bangladesh Coalition for the International Criminal Court, Odhikar from Bangladesh, the Cambodia Human Rights and Development Association, the East Timor People's Action, the ICC from India, the Women's Research and Action Group in India, the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy in Indonesia, MINBYUN - Lawyers for a Democratic Society in South Korea, the Pakistan Coalition on the International Criminal Court, the Philippine Coalition for the International Criminal Court, and the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines.