The government had filed nomination for the post some four months ago. Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed that Sharma was elected for the post. [break]
This is the second time the Nepalese candidate elected to the Committee and the first time in last twenty years that Nepal has won an election to an important human rights treaty body. Sharma is one of the five members, who will have four years’ tenure beginning from Jan 2014.
The Committee against Torture is composed of 10 independent experts who are persons of high moral character and recognized competence in the field of human rights. Members are elected for a term of four years by States parties in accordance with article 17 of the Convention against Torture.
“As per the Convention, the Committee comprises of ten members and the election for five of them is held every two years. Though twelve countries had fielded their candidates initially, only eight contested in the election today. Four other winning candidates were from Italy, China, Morocco and Denmark,” reads a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
There are a total of 153 States Parties to the Convention. According to the statement, 140 members were present during the voting held in Geneva on Tuesday. The CAT was ratified by Nepal in 1991.
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