KATHMANDU: A boy swims in a pond covered with algae at Kirtipur on the outskirts of Kathmandu.- AFP

GENEVA: A UN
committee has ordered Nepal to compensate a man blocked from seeking justice
after suffering years of forced labor, as well as alleged torture in custody as
a child. In a decision published yesterday, the UN Human Rights Committee also
called on Nepal to remove all existing obstacles hindering victims of forced
labor and torture from filing complaints.

The ruling came
in response to an individual case brought by a Nepali man, using the pseudonym
Bholi Pharaka, who from the age of nine had worked as a domestic worker in
Kathmandu to help provide for his impoverished, indigenous family. When he was
around 12, he moved to a new family, headed by an officer in the Nepali army,
where he says he was forced to work from 4:00 am until 10:00 pm each day. He
maintains he was subjected to physical and psychological abuse and never
received compensation for his labor.

After two years,
he escaped back to his home village in 2012, but was soon arrested, after his
employer filed a police complaint accusing him of theft. While in custody,
Pharaka, who was 14 at the time, says he suffered beatings and other torture to
force him to confess. With his family unable to pay bail or legal fees, he was
held in a severely overcrowded adult jail for months, where he says the torture
continued, before being transferred to a juvenile facility.

The UN committee
faulted Nepal's judiciary for failing to investigate the boy's claims in court
that he had been tortured, and for failing to protect him as a minor and a
member of a recognized vulnerable minority. It also decried that authorities
had ignored multiple complaints filed by the boy's family regarding his
treatment in custody and the forced labor he was subjected to. The committee
called on Nepal to provide Pharaka with an "effective remedy",
including "adequate compensation, proportional to the violations
suffered."

It also urged the
country to remove "legal, practical and administrative obstacles"
blocking victims of torture and child and forced labor from accessing justice.
"It is our hope that Nepal will take all necessary measures to protect and
help victims of such acts regain their lives," committee member Helene
Trigroudja said in a statement.  The
committee has given Nepal six months to report back on measures it is taking to
rectify the situation. The team of 18 independent experts monitors whether
countries adhere to their human rights commitments, but does not have
enforcement powers.- AFP