asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is their response to the findings of the joint Advocacy Forum and Human Rights Watch report on government accountability for killings and disappearances in Nepal over the last decade.

My Lords, we welcome the report published by the Advocacy Forum and Human Rights Watch,Unpunished Crimes from Nepal's Armed Conflict. As the report highlights, the continuing failure to tackle previous human rights abuses risks undermining the progress that Nepal has made towards democracy. The UK has consistently urged the Government of Nepal to tackle impunity and to ensure justice for victims of killings and disappearances. We will continue to raise the serious issues that are highlighted in the report.

My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reassurance. However, two years after the end of the civil war, the Nepal Army is still resisting police investigation, which is quite legitimately required by civilians, into cases of alleged extrajudicial killings. There were 47 cases of alleged killings, disappearances, torture in custody or rape committed by the security forces between 2002 and 2006. That figure does not include the atrocities by the Maoist forces. Will the Minister confirm that he met the army chief of staff, General Katawal, who gave him a personal reassurance that the army would comply with these investigations? What can the international community and the UN do about this to further the cause of human rights in Nepal?

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord on having brought attention to this issue. There is now a new, democratically elected Government in Nepal, of whom the leading party is the Maoist movement. Like any new democratic Government, they have to assert their authority over the national army. The noble Lord is right: I have raised this twice with the head of the national army, both in Nepal and in London. Compliance is critical, but Nepal is a country badly in need of a truth and reconciliation commission of some kind. The human rights abuses were on all sides and the process of healing needs the truth to be arrived at about atrocities committed by not only the Maoist side but also the national army.

My Lords, my noble friend will know that there has been a National Human Rights Commission in Nepal for some time. Can he inform the House what its role has been in relation to the alleged violations of human rights and what progress there has been not only in the setting up of the truth and reconciliation commission to which he referred but the commission on disappearances?

My Lords, we have supported the National Human Rights Commission to which my noble friend refers financially as well as, if you like, morally. It has a unique constitutional responsibility in Nepal to protect the rights of the people. However, we go on reminding the Government that it is not sufficient: it needs to be supported by a truth and reconciliation commission and, perhaps most critically, its findings need to be acted on.

My Lords, to go back to the noble Lord's response to the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, what progress has been made with the Government of Nepal in setting up the truth and reconciliation commission and the commission on disappearances?

My Lords, unfortunately there has not yet been any discernible progress.

My Lords, while acknowledging that enormous problems remain to be solved, should we not congratulate Mr Ian Martin on his outstanding achievements during his term of office as head of the United Nations Mission in Nepal, including the advent of a democratically elected Government? What further steps does the noble Lord think that we should now take to complete the process of demobilisation, disarming and reintegration in respect of the 19,000 former combatants who are still in cantonments and to persuade the parties that they should collaborate in the arrangements that are being projected for this purpose?

My Lords, I certainly join the noble Lord in congratulating Ian Martin, a remarkable international civil servant who began his career here in the UK with Amnesty International. All parties would agree that he has played an extraordinary role. The renewal of UNMIN is just coming up. At this point, the Government of Nepal have yet to make a request for what continuing capacity they want but, while we must balance the needs of all these missions and their budgetary consequences, we do not want to wind up DDR activities in Nepal prematurely.

My Lords, given that Great Britain is a large donor country to Nepal, what is it doing to address with the Nepalese Government the increasing incidence of violence against women? How do the Government track the aid given to Nepal?

My Lords, as the noble Baroness correctly points out, we are indeed one of the major donors to Nepal. I should say that over the past 10 years there has been a striking reduction in the incidence of poverty in Nepal. Aid and development are working despite the difficult political situation. Moreover, we do a lot on gender issues in the country.

My Lords, is it the case that the Nepalese army, which had custody of 15 year-old Maina Sunuwar when she died in February 2004, is still refusing to give evidence to the police? The army has carried out its own inquiry, but it will not permit the police to cross-examine any of its members.

My Lords, I raised this case with the head of the Nepalese army. At the time he gave me undertakings that the army would co-operate, but I am afraid to have to report to the noble Lord that it has not so far done so.

My Lords, is there any truth in the suggestion that the UN has been sending remittances direct to the Nepalese army rather than to the Nepalese Government?

My Lords, for the second time this morning, we will have to get back to the noble Earl.

My Lords, the Government are currently resisting the amendment tabled by my noble friend Lord Goodhart that attempts to define the difference between a freedom fighter and a terrorist. Can the Minister explain what the Government see as the difference between the two in a country that does not have free and fair elections?

My Lords, I can answer only in the context of Nepal, where free and fair elections were held. A long-time insurgency has been successfully brought into the democratic mainstream; it prevailed at the polls and now governs in partnership with other parties in the framework of a democratic Parliament and constitution. While it is a fragile start, this appears to be a clear case of the success that one can achieve in many areas around the world when yesterday's freedom fighters—or, in the eyes of some, yesterday's terrorists—are brought back into the political mainstream.

My Lords—

My Lords, I should say to my noble friend that we are now in the 24th minute.