A/HRC/4/33/Add.2 Page 87 that they should also be potentially excluded from service in the United Nations peacekeeping operations.” The High Commissioner referred to the issue in her reports to the General Assembly of 16 September 2005 and to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights of 16 February 2006. 479. On 13 April 2006, the High Commissioner issued a press release acknowledging the role of Nepal’s Police and APF in helping the United Nations but making it clear that her “commitment to provide the Department of Peacekeeping Operations with information regarding individuals implicated in human rights violations extends to them as much as it does to the Royal Nepalese Army.” 480. The Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations has stated to the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations that: “It has been a mandatory policy of His Majesty’s Government of Nepal not to include any security personnel who have been found guilty of human rights violation at home, in any peacekeeping mission of the United Nations.” According to NA, the policy has been in practice since 15 May 2005 and applies to persons found guilty by a military court. However, given the unsatisfactory and non-transparent nature of NA investigations and prosecutions and the failure to investigate disappearances, this cannot be assumed to be an adequate assurance that human rights violators are in practice excluded from UN peacekeeping operations. The officer-in-charge of Bhairabnath Battalion at the time of the disappearance of at least 47 persons in late 2003 subsequently served in the United Nations mission in Burundi, and this came to DPKO’s attention when an article in The Observer newspaper (London, 29 January 2006) referred to the officer as having been “rewarded” by being sent on UN peacekeeping duties. 481. Recommendation (s) stated: The Special Rapporteur calls on the Maoists to end torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and to stop the practice of involuntary recruitment, in particular of women and children. 482. According to information received from NGOs and other sources, since the ceasefire, allegations of abduction, ill-treatment and torture by CPN-M, as well as killings and deaths in custody, have taken place in the context of CPN-M’s “law enforcement” activities. Those abducted are held in private houses, factories or other public buildings, often being moved from one place to another and effectively incommunicado for some of the time. 483. Between June and October 2006, a total of 14 cases have been confirmed of individuals who died in CPN-M captivity or shortly after being released – either killed, sometimes as a result of beatings, or allegedly committing suicide during captivity or shortly afterwards. In a few cases, the cause of death was not clear. While the CPN-M leadership has stated that torture and ill-treatment, as well as killings, are against CPN-M policy and that it will take action against those responsible, information about investigations and action have not been provided. No cases of deaths were reported in November and December. 484. It should be noted that some of those abducted as part of CPN-M’s “law enforcement” activities have been children. In one case, a 13-year-old boy accused of rape and “sentenced” to forced labour subsequently committed suicide. 485. On the question of recruitment of children under 18, whether forced or voluntary,