KATHMANDU, JULY 14
Victim groups and civil society have jointly submitted concrete suggestions on transitional justice to the law minister.
Altogether 63 organisations submitted suggestions to the law minister. They have highlighted the major points related to amnesty, reconciliation, and statutory limitations.
We have prepared and presented the following initial suggestions to the Government of Nepal, limited to the amendment of the Commission Act, 2071, limited to the investigation of disappeared persons, truth-telling and reconciliation commission by the organisations representing civil society and victim groups mentioned in the list.
The Government of Nepal immediately made public the draft of the amendment bill.
We would like to reiterate our demand that stakeholders, including the victim group and civil society, be given the opportunity and sufficient time to present their feedback and suggestions on the said draft.
After the government announced the bill, the important suggestions given by the stakeholders in the recently concluded consultations, the repeated orders of the Supreme Court and the reasonable amendment of Transitional Justice to be consistent with the international legal standards and Jurisprudence, we would like to present our final suggestions and comments.
By strengthening the environment of trust among stakeholders, we would like to draw the attention of all concerned that there should be no obstruction from anywhere in the context of bringing the transitional justice process to a legitimate conclusion, which has been marred by extreme politicisation for a long time.
Suggestions for the amendment of the Commission for Investigation, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act, 2071 are: provide a list of serious crime that are non-inestimable, there should be adequate representation of the victim, re-appointment of the new commissioner, there should be no extension of the tenure of the new commission.
Amnesty should be prohibited for crimes like murder, rape, torture, abduction, war crime, genocide, and crime against humanity.
There should be a special criminal court for these crimes. This court should be independent and five judges should be appointed on the basis free competition.
Advocate Raju Prashad Chapagain said that the " Civil society and Victim groups met the Law Minister and expressed their concerns and the Law Minister assured about the suggestions and introduction of the bill."
A version of this article appears in the print on July 15, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
