|
(Paris) Human rights protestors demonstrated
against the visit to Paris by Nepal's Crown Prince demanding an end to what they
called a "sexual cleansing drive" aimed at transsexuals.
Carrying black flags, gay rights and AIDS
activists joined other human rights protestors and exiled Nepalese demonstrated
at the Eiffel Tower.
Crown Prince Paras is reportedly on a private
visit to Paris.
The protests come a week after Human Rights Watch
reported that transsexuals and HIV/AIDS outreach workers in Nepal's capital Kathmandu
are under increased scrutiny by police.
Human Rights Watch first raised the alarm in
January (story)
after groups of transgendered women, called Metis in two separate incidents were
attacked by police and the military.
Human Rights Watch says the situation has gotten increasingly
worse. Earlier this month police rounded up 26 metis. According to the Blue Diamond
Society, a Nepali organization working in the fields of
sexual rights, sexual health and HIV prevention, they were taken to the Hanuman
Dhoka central police station in Kathmandu.
Five were later moved to Kalimati
police station. Human Rights Watch understands that as of March 16, they have
still not been permitted to speak to a lawyer. All have reportedly been charged
with committing a "public nuisance."
"This is the latest incident in a violent police campaign to 'cleanse'
Kathmandu of those considered undesirable," said Scott Long, director of
the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights
Watch. "Police regularly assault and in some cases sexually abuse
transgender people, all in the name of enforcing 'moral values.'"
Those arrested included two staff, two outreach workers, and two peer educators
working for the Blue Diamond Society.
Nepal was one of several countries named in a
State Department report on human rights violators that was released this month.
(story)
©365Gay.com 2006
|
Entertainment
