Freedom Forum noted that the proposed amendment fails to ensure justice for the victims of the armed conflict in Nepal, which include dead and disappeared journalists.
This statement was originally published on freedomforum.org.np on 3 August 2022.
Freedom Forum is alarmed over the Bill tabled by the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs at the Parliament for an amendment to the Investigation of Enforced Disappeared Persons, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act, 2014, on July 12, 2022.
FF expresses its solidarity to those dissenting and expressing disagreement on the grounds that the proposed amendment fails to ensure justice for the victims of the armed conflict.
The Bill should include clear provisions ensuring justice to the victims. It also needs to be revised and amended in accordance with the relevant decisions of the Supreme Court verdict, the recommendations of the National Human Rights Commission, and international standards on transitional justice.
FF reiterates its stand that the cases relating to the death and disappearance of journalists, as well as human rights defenders, should be prosecuted and adjudicated in the regular courts. Such case should not fall under the jurisdiction of the transitional commissions.
The victims of the conflict and their families have not received justice yet due to the confusions related to the process of transitional justice over the years. This gesture by the state encourages impunity. It has been an issue of serious concern for us.
The failure to ensure justice for the victims and their families of conflict era crimes, and the existing status quo of impunity has been a blot on press freedom of Nepal.
Hence, FF appeals to the government and the parliament to make the required revisions to the bill, to ensure prompt justice and to end the state of impunity.
