Kathmandu, June 4:

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Nepal, today welcomed the Supreme Court’s “ground-breaking and historic” decision on disappearance cases.

“The Supreme Court’s historic decision is a highly positive development and must be fully and promptly implemented,” said Lena Sundh, the OHCHR representative in Nepal.

In a statement, she expressed hope that the SC decision of June 1 will “boost the efforts” of victims and their families in finding out what happened to their loved ones and “in their pursuit of justice, as well as in ending impunity for persons responsible for serious human rights violations in Nepal.”

The SC ordered the government to enact a law that criminalises enforced disappearance; establish a high level commission of inquiry on disappearances; investigate and prosecute persons responsible for disappearances and provide compensation to the victims and their families.