Kathmandu, February 6

Conflict Victims National Alliance today staged a sit-in outside the prime minister’s official residence in Baluwatar to press the government to amend the Transitional Justice Act at the earliest.

Besides conflict victims, civil society members and rights activists also participated in the protest.

CVNA Senior Vice President Phanindra Luitel said the protest was held from 9:00am to 10:00am at Baluwatar to press the government to be serious about the transitional justice process.

Even after more than four years of their formation, two transitional justice bodies Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons, have failed to investigate a single case. They have collected more than 63,000 complaints of rights violation during the 10-year Maoist insurgency that lasted from 1996 to 2006. One of the major reasons for the failure of the commissions is lack of necessary legislation.

The Supreme Court verdicts state there should not be amnesty for grave human rights violations such as extra-judicial killing, enforced disappearance, torture, rape and other acts of sexual violence; the statute of limitations for grave offences must be removed; cases recommended by the TRC and CIEDP must be prosecuted; torture and enforced disappearance must be criminalised through enactment of laws; cases before the court cannot be transferred to the TRC or CIEDP; dignified and respectable reparation for victims and no reconciliation without the consent of victims.