KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 13

National Network of Victims and Survivors of Serious Human Rights Abuses (NNVS) submitted an appeal to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres seeking the global body's support in securing Nepal government's commitment and action on transitional justice, memorialisation, reparations and non-recurrence of conflict.

NNVS, which copied the appeal to other UN agencies, also submitted the appeal to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal today.

NNVS stated in the appeal that the international human rights organisations have focused on legal and prosecutorial justice in Nepal, but the primary goals of victims and survivors is to learn the truth about what happened to them and the wider community, and to secure social and economic justice, recognition and memorialisation.

Kathmandu-based transitional justice efforts continue to be top-down, disconnected from the day-today realities, priorities and needs of victims and survivors in their context. This is why the whole transitional justice course focuses on criminal prosecutions and amnesty which has significantly undermined the value of the other components of transitional justice, including the element of transformative justice, NNVS said.

NNVS said it believes transitional justice initiatives should be context specific, nationally owned, victim-centred, inclusive, gender-sensitive and most transformative, however the grassroots victims' voices are less heard by the government, international actors and human rights organisations.

The organisation urged the UNSG to take note of their concerns that in the absence of effective measures to redress the harms suffered, they are compounded and multiplied as each year passes.

NNVS said many victims are now living in situations of extreme deprivation, unable to meet their basic needs. In this context, the Kathmandu-based prosecution versus amnesty debate has further frustrated the grassroots victims. Any intervention that further delays the process would have adverse impact on the needs of the victim.

The proposed amendment in the Truth and Reconciliation Act (Amendment) Bill empowers the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to undertake its functions transparently in a victim-centric, gender-friendly and disabled- friendly manner.

The bill guarantees victims' right to reparation, psychosocial counselling, interim relief, compensation and rehabilitation, and makes this non-contingent to the identification of the perpetrators, the attainment of reconciliation, or the recommendation of pardon or prosecution of the perpetrators, NNVS said. It added that only if the transitional justice commissions are made effective can they deliver recommendations concerning truth, justice, reparations and non-recurrence on the basis of the root causes of the conflict.

NNVS has urged the UNSG to use his good office to encourage the members of the parliament to listen to the voice of grassroots victims and address their needs of access to health, education, employment, memory and psychological support where the grassroots needs, experiences and expectations of victims should be central during the amendment process.

NNVS said active participation of victims and survivors in the design, implementation and evaluation of reparation programme is needed, where victims network can play a constructive role as a driver for long-term socio-political change processes.

NNVS said the government should develop a trustworthy and transparent process for restructuring the commissions immediately after the amendment of the TRC Act, to make the commissions functional, result-oriented, victim-centric, trustworthy and credible.

It said the activities of different interest groups that are harming the transitional justice process by denying justice to victims, capturing the process and dividing victims should be collectively scrutinized and donor agencies should stop supporting such activities.

We should continue to re-energise, reorganise and mobilise the victims' network throughout the country and continue policy advocacy to make the transitional justice process victim-centred and effective, NNVS said, Thus, the agencies supporting transitional justice process should directly support grassroots victims and their networks.

Donor agencies, diplomatic missions, including the United Nations, must link their development projects into reparation programmes that contribute both to supporting local victims and transforming justice processes.

Despite continuous advocacy by victims' network and numerous studies that have identified a wide range of needs of victims - often conducted by the international NGOs themselves - the international boycott and refusal to engage with the government of Nepal on account of amnesty provisions ultimately perpetuates a top-down and outside-in approach to transitional justice that ignores the realities and priorities of victims, including their social, political and economic needs.

NNVS said major political parties (Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, CPM-MC) should play a constructive role to conclude the unfinished agenda of the peace process by developing a context specific Nepali model with a strong political will, NNVS stated in its appeal.

The NNVS is a member-based nationwide network of grassroots victims that includes victims of state and Maoist actions during the internal armed conflict (1996-2006).

A version of this article appears in the print on October 14, 2023, of The Himalayan Times