Kathmandu, Jan. 23: Chiefs of
the two transitional justice mechanisms, the Commission on Investigation of Enforced Disappeared Persons
(CIEDP) and Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), on Tuesday accepted that
there had been no significant progress regarding investigating crimes against
humanity committed during the decade-long armed conflict.
The confusion
that prevailed about two years ago about recognising ‘enforced disappearance’
or ‘torture’ as a crime has not been cleared as the state has failed to enact
the laws related to it.
Article 25 (1)
of the Act on the Commission on Investigation of Disappeared Persons and Truth
and Reconciliation, 2014, had a provision to punish the perpetrators of crimes
against humanity, but there is no legal instrument to execute the punishment
provisions.
“Although the
law has enabled us to recommend to the government to punish the perpetrators,
we are unable to specifically suggest the nature of the punishment due to the
legal vacuum,” Lokendra Mallik, Chairperson of the CIEDP, said at a seminar on
‘Role of media in peace building’.
The
commissions had forwarded the draft of the bill to the Ministry of Peace and
Reconstruction (MoPR) about two years ago, but it couldn’t move further.
Chairman of
the TRC Surya Kiran Gurung also said that the government’s inability to enact
the laws was the major cause of delay.
The
commissions were formed on February 10, 2015.
Former chairman
of the Council of Ministers and former Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi urged the
government to be positive in solving the problem.
But Secretary at
the MoPR Krishna Raj BC claimed that the government had given priority to
conflict resolution. He claimed that the government had recorded the cases of
people affected by the conflict, including the families of the disappeared
persons, and also provided compensation.
Commissioner
of the National Human Rights Commission Mohana Ansari criticised the government
for its negligence of the cases related to the conflict victims.
“Accountability
of the government to peace and citizens and justice is very slow. The
complaints of the victims, registered about one-and-a-half decades ago, are
just being resolved. How can you compensate a family after 15 years?” she
questioned.
She urged the
government to be serious about conflict resolution and provide compensation at
the earliest.
The term of
the two commissions has been extended again by one year.
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