National
Transitional justice: CIEDP says it has screened 60pc of total plaints
The Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) has screened 1,800 of the 2,780 complaints that the commission has received till date.Dewan Rai
The Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) has screened 1,800 of the 2,780 complaints that the commission has received till date.
Of them, the commission has forwarded 200 complaints for the second phase of investigation. “It means the commission will tally these complaints with documents prepared by various rights organisations before they are forwarded for the detailed investigation,” said Mahesh Sharma Poudel, secretary at the CIEDP.
The commission had started screening the complaints as and when it received them from the Local Peace Committees (LPCs). In the absence of its own mechanism to register complaints, the commission had employed LPC secretaries and computer operators to collect complaints from conflict victims in the districts.
According to Poudel, the commission will approach the National Human Rights Commission and national and international rights bodies that have documented particular incidents for their record to tally with the complaints registered with the commission.
The verified complaints will then be recommended for detailed investigation, which includes taking statements, public hearing, forensic and DNA tests as required.
“We will verify all the documents available with the government record as well,” said Poudel.
The Ministry of Peace has maintained a separate record of conflict victims. The ministry has recorded only 1,495 cases of disappearance, while rights organisations have documented less than 1,300 such incidents.
However, the commission, which may need to exhume bodies, has not been provided with staff and experts to carry out thorough investigation into the incidents of disappearance.
Currently, 30 staff members are involved in screening the complaints.
The commission’s request for additional 26 staffers has fallen into deaf ears. The commission plans to mobilise them to fill out ante-mortem forms and conduct public hearings.