Ian Martin Quotations

The people of East Timor, whatever side of the issue they are on, are determined to have their say in this ballot.

One would expect them to be respectful of United Nations standards in their conduct at home.

What I hear is not the message I would like to hear from the government, that peaceful protests is a right and should be upheld and security forces should use only absolute minimum force in maintaining law and order.

It is a tragedy for the people of Nepal that full-scale conflict has now resumed.

We have been told by police that around 70 people have been arrested. We have not yet had access to them in detention but we are seeking it.

We have witnessed a worrying trend of excessive use of force.

We have noticed that there are women victims but the numbers are not so big, though women face the greater fatalities.

The government shouldn't deny the fundamental rights of people to organize peaceful protest program by carrying out arbitrary detention of leaders like in the past.

We will be actively monitoring the general strike ... to ensure there is no excessive use of force.

The right to peaceful assembly should be respected and nobody should be arbitrarily arrested or detained for exercising their right to a peaceful assembly.

Our concern is that the right to peaceful rallies should be respected...There should not be unnecessary use of force.

This is not a situation that can continue indefinitely.

Although there were clashes by supporters on both sides ... it was the militias who were carrying guns, weapons, and that once again heavily armed and equipped police failed to intervene (against) when that militia violence was carried on in front of them.

This is the moment when the leadership of CPN (Maoist) must give clear and public instructions to its cadres to end all abductions of civilians, must release any other civilians still held after being abducted, and must ensure that those instructions are followed.

I told the home secretary in the clearest terms of the concerns of our office and our expectation that his ministry take responsibility for implementing measures that will ensure the protection of human rights.

It is time for the government, and for all commanders of police and other security forces involved in policing demonstrations, to recognize that this level of violence against civilians is not acceptable and is against the obligations of the State.

Democratic rights do not exist. The opportunities for peaceful protests have been closed down.

Democratic rights do not exist presently in Nepal.

It's clear that (the protests) will continue today as well. We're already getting reports of numbers of people gathering at some of the same places as yesterday.

The internationally guaranteed right is the right to peaceful assembly, and OHCHR-Nepal has called for demonstrations and rallies to remain peaceful. Excessive restrictions on peaceful assembly at a time of legitimate political debate, however, carry the risk of contributing to violence.

Clashes occurred in highly populated areas, placing the civilian population in grave danger.

If it includes threats to the life or physical integrity of individuals taking no active part in hostilities, or the taking of hostages, such action would be a grave violation of international human rights standards.