Child kidnappings rampant in Nepal, Human Rights Watch says

Child kidnappings rampant in Nepal, Human Rights Watch says

2011-03-30 06:41:09 GMT+7 (ICT)

NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) -- Criminal gangs and other armed groups are kidnapping children in Nepal's Tarai belt region for ransom and sometimes killing them, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.

At least 28 children were abducted in the Terai region in 2010, according to an English-language media survey by Human Rights Watch (HRW). Nine of these abductions ended with the child being killed, and in two cases girls were raped by their abductors.

"These armed groups are willing to risk children's lives to extort money from poor shopkeepers, farmers, and teachers," said Bede Sheppard, senior children's rights researcher at HRW.

"If the police consistently fail to get these children freed and home safely, they lose the faith of the community they are supposed to protect."  

In almost all the cases that HRW documented, police efforts to secure the release of children usually took more than ten days, and almost always occurred only after the family had paid the ransom demanded. The initial ransom request was an average of 500,000 rupees ($7,142), a crippling amount of money for these families.

According to the report, there were serious allegations by families and human rights activists that members of the police themselves have been involved in carrying out abductions, or have benefitted from turning a blind eye to these cases.

The New York-based rights group called on the Nepali government to ensure prompt and thorough investigations and prosecutions into all of these cases.

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