Amnesty International, the International Commission of Jurists, Human Rights watch and TRIAL International reprimanded the government of Nepal on Monday for its failure to keep promises to victims of the armed conflict that had lasted over a decade.
The organizations referred to the plans that the government of Nepal made to provide justice for victims impacted by the conflict from 1996-2006, where almost 17,000 died and more than 1,300 were subject to enforced disappearance.
The organizations said that Nepal had not taken positive steps towards actualizing these goals. Raju Chapagai, a researcher at Amnesty International commented:
We have seen no evidence so far that the authorities of Nepal are serious about fulfilling their obligation to investigate conflict-era violations and bring all those suspected of criminal responsibility to justice in fair trials before ordinary civilian courts.
Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli promised upon his election in 2018 that the transitional justice programs would be brought into alignment with Nepal’s international human rights obligations. Yet, there was never a change to the law and the government formed committees to nominate appointments to the transitional justice entities without consulting human rights experts.
Meenakshi Ganguly, the South Asia director at Human Rights Watch criticized these efforts:
The failure of the government to deliver on its commitment to ensure truth, justice and reparations for the victims of conflict-era abuses shows a dismaying disregard for the protection of human rights.
Together, the human rights organizations implored the government to:
- suspend the current process, and initiate a consultative and transparent process for the nomination and appointment of commissioners;
- follow through on commitments to amend the 2014 transitional justice law to ensure that the legal framework is consistent with international human rights standards and Supreme Court rulings; and
- adopt and publicize a plan for taking the transitional justice process forward.
