• The commission has urged the government to arrange education and employment opportunities to the victims

Kathmandu, July 23

The ‘Study Report on the Implementation Status of the National Human Rights Commission’s Recommendations and Situation of Victims’ publicised by the NHRC on Wednesday has pointed out the need for formulation of policies and guidelines that could help address the plight of victims of human rights violation.

The report mentions that only 14.3 per cent of the NHRC’s recommendations have been fully implemented till the fiscal year 2015/16 since its inception on May 26, 2000. However, the government claims to have implemented 30 per cent of the recommendations made by the national human rights body.

“In this regard, since the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction have covered incidents of decade-long armed conflict only, this study report finds it inappropriate to make an arrangement of relief to the victims of human rights violation of the Tarai agitation merely on the basis of the decision dispensed on the ground that there is no legal provision as such to provide relief to such victims,” read the report.

The report further argues that the relief and compensation provided to the victims of human rights violations is not the matter of mercy. The commission has substantiated the appropriateness of amending the prevalent laws to bestow on the commission the power to blacklist not only the officials who do not implement the rights body’s recommendations but also the human rights violators.

The commission has urged the government to make arrangement of education, health and employment opportunities while granting compensation to the families of the victims.

Stressing on formulation of victim-friendly laws, the study report has pointed out the need to amend laws which are discriminatory to the victims. The research-based report has been prepared through active involvement of the staff members of the central office, regional office and sub-regional office of the commission, including a few Bachelor level scholars of Victims’ Relief Management of Tribhuvan University and Nepal Law Campus.

The report concludes that the government ought to take guardianship of the victims. At the same time, the commission is of the opinion that merely providing a meager amount as relief to the victims does not fulfil the state obligation.

The study puts forward the proposition that there needs to be a provision in law with regard to the issuance of identity cards to the victims and documentation of the details of the victims’ families in order to facilitate support to them.