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Bills On Setting Up Commissions On Enforced Disappearances And Truth and Reconciliation
By KTM Metro Reporter
September 3, 2012: speaking at a discussion about 'Transitional justice, Ordinance and Amnesty' jointly held by Justice and Rights Institution, Nepal (JURI), Forum of Human Rights and Democracy (FOHRID) and International Commission of Jurist (ICJ) in Kathmandu today, Chairman of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Kedarnath Upadhyaya has said that commissions on Enforced Disappearances, and Truth and Reconciliation would be brought into effect through presidential ordinances would not meet the international standards, and so would not be acceptable to the NHRC. Speaking at the same program, human rights activists and civil society leaders said that the bills on Truth and Reconciliation and on enforced disappearance recommended by the government to the president for the presidential ordinances were not for bringing the perpetrators of human rights violation to justice, so went against the interest of the victims, had done so without consultation and discussion with the people and stakeholders, and were the results of the totalitarian attitude of the prime minister, and so the president should send them back, writes ‘thehimalayantimes.com’ quoting RSS.
In the joint statement issued by the UK, USA, Australia, Denmark, the European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Norway, the Netherlands and Switzerland, they urged the Nepal government to make sure commissions on truth and reconciliation, and investigation into enforced disappearances made during the war meet international standards, and they also urged not to include broad amnesties for serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the legal provisions on these commissions, according to nepalnews.com.
“The establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and a Commission of Inquiry on Disappearances as foreseen in the Comprehensive Peace Accord will help establish the facts about what happened during the 10-year long armed conflict and seek to provide justice to its victims. For Nepal’s peace process to move forward, it is important that the two Commissions are established soon and with legislation that not only meets international standards but also complies with the Supreme Court’s June 2007 ruling,” the diplomatic missions said in a joint statement.
“We encourage the Government of Nepal to take into account the views of the National Human Rights Commission and victims groups when finalizing the bills,” the statement said, adding, “As friends and well-wishers of Nepal, we reaffirm our continued commitment and support to Nepal at this important moment in its history. Effectively dealing with the legacy of the conflict will allow Nepal's transition to peace to continue on the basis of trust, truth and reconciliation,” according to nepalnews.com
