In three separate open letters issued today, the Asian Human Rights Commission and Advocacy Forum have urged the leaders of the Nepali Congress, the Communist Party of Nepal (UML) and the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) not to include provisions providing blanket amnesty to perpetrators of grave human rights violations in the text of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Bill.
The two human rights organisations have taken exception to the attempts to shield perpetrators of gross human rights violations from prosecutions and recalled that they may place Nepal in breach of its international obligations to provide victims with an effective right to a legal redress, under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
In a joint submission to the 19th session of the Human Rights Council, Advocacy Forum and the Asian Legal Resource Center, the AHRC’s sister organization, have expressed their opposition to the January proposal for blanket amnesty articulated by the parliamentary taskforce, arguing that “since the signing of the CPA, victims have been made to wait for the establishment of transitional justice institutions before justice can be done. Despite the Supreme Court repeatedly ruling that commitments to these commissions do not supersede the regular justice institutions, the police have again and again refused to register and investigate conflict-related cases, claiming that they should fall under these commissions’ jurisdiction. Should these institutions now be used as a means to provide amnesty to perpetrators, victims’ fundamental rights to justice will have been cynically abused.”
The AHRC and Advocacy Forum recalled the Comprehensive Peace Agreement is committed to accountability, justice and protection of the victims’ rights and the Interim Constitution mandates the state to adopt a political system upholding universally accepted fundamental human rights, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary and to eliminate corruption and impunity.
The open letters urged the political parties you to see that the adoption of the transitional justice institutions pave the way for the much-delayed impartial and independent investigation of all allegations of human rights violations and for the prosecutions of perpetrators in proceedings that meet international standards of justice delivery.
The letter to the Chairman of (UML) Communist Party of Nepal is available here
The letter to the President of Nepali Congress Party is available here
The letter to the Chairman of UCPN-Maoists Party is available here
