11 years on, conflict survivors still deprived of justice

KATHMANDU: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has concluded that though 11 years have already been elapsed since the signing of peace agreement, survivors of the decade long armed conflict have been still deprived of justice.

Speaking at a programme organised in commemoration of the completion of the 11 years of signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord in 2006, which had formally put the decade long armed conflict to an end, NHRC member Prakash Wasti said the government was not sensitive towards the issues of human rights.

He expressed his concern over the government apathy towards the implementation of the NHRC recommendations, warning that the NHRC would react strongly if it (government) continued to turn its dear ear to such recommendations.

NHRC member and spokesperson Mohana Ansari drew the attention of the Home Ministry towards the IED explosions targeting candidates for the upcoming elections to the House of Representatives and State Assemblies. She insisted on the need of a strong security mechanism to response such security threats.

According to another NHRC member Sudip Pathak, pains and sufferings of the conflict survivors are as it is even after the completion of 11 years since the CPA. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons, the transitional justice mechanism formed to deal with the cases of gross human rights violations took place during the conflict, failed to function effectively due to lack of required acts, resources and right to self-decision, he added.

Likewise, the NHRC has published the monitoring report of the local level elections-2017. Three individuals were murdered and incidents of clash occurred in some districts.

Despite some untoward incidents, the elections concluded peacefully in overall, as the report states. Use of children in election publicity campaign had slightly gone down compared to the previous elections, there was wider violation of election code of conduct, polling stations were not the disabled-friendly and the voter's education was not effective. These are the NHRC findings included in the report.