Miscellaneous
TRC decides to extend deadline for filing plaints
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has extended the deadline for registering complaints related to conflict-era cases till August 10.The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has extended the deadline for registering complaints related to conflict-era cases till August 10.
The commission on Wednesday decided to keep the commission open for complaint registration considering the feedbacks from district, officials said.
Since the tenure of the Local Peace Committees (LPCs) expired on July 15, the victims will have to register their complaints at the commission’s office in Babarmahal, Kathmandu. “They can register their complaints through phone, email, postal system and fax from districts,” said TRC Chairperson Surya Kiran Gurung.
The transitional bodies—TRC and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP)—had collected the complaints from the victims through the LPCs. As the political parties are engaged in power negotiations, the government overlooked continuation of local bodies.
The TRC has already received over 53,000 complaints while the CIEDP received around 2,800 complaints in the past three months. The commissions are supposed to conduct public hearings at the local level, for which the LPCs are focal points. Besides, the commissions have only seven months left to investigate around 55,000, while the number of complaints is still rising.
Gurung said this is the last deadline extension as the TRC would not be able to look into complaints registered after next month.
“We will not have enough time to investigate into complaints received after next month,” said Gurung.
Although the CIEDP has already asked for term extension, the TRC aims to complete the tasks within the given time.
The CIEDP has claimed to have already screened over half the complaints it has received, while the TRC has just started sifting through the complaints.
Gurung argued that the commission could still complete the task within its first term if the government provides them with resources as demanded by the commission.
The government is yet to amend the Enforced Disappearances Enquiry, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act as ordered by the Supreme Court. The court has struck down almost a dozen provisions of the act, saying that they were inconsistent with transitional justice norms and practice, which includes criminalising the act of disappearance and torture.
The TRC has been mandated to look into the incidents of murder, torture, mutilation, displacement, abduction, rape, looting and damage to private property, while the CIEDP has been mandated to investigate into the incidents of disappearance only.
NHRC proposes amendments to law
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has proposed an amendment to the commission’s act with mandatory provision for the Office of the Attorney General (AG) to implement its recommendation for action against the rights violators.
The national rights body has already forwarded the proposal to the AG Office, which is learnt to have forwarded to the Law Ministry. “The Supreme Court has already issued a verdict making it mandatory for the government to implement the commission’s recommendations,” said NHRC Chairperson Anup Raj Sharma, “But the amendments to laws are required for legal clarity.”
While the government has been claiming the implementation rate to be 30 percent, the commission in its report released on Wednesday has put the implementation rate at 14 percent.
In 16 years, the constitutional rights watchdog has recommended action in 735 cases of grave human rights violation, of which 105 recommendations have been implemented. All of the implemented cases are related to providing compensation to the victims, except one army personnel involved in Doramba incident was reported to have been court marshalled and relieved from the job.
“The rate of implementation is disappointing,” said Sharma, “That’s why we proposed the amendments streamlining the legal provisions to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
After appointment of new office bearers in the national rights body two years ago, the commission has been studying on status of its past recommendations. The government has been circumventing the recommendations made by constitutional body for action against rights violators in the pretext of legal inadequacy to register the case in the court.
According Attorney General Hari Phuyal, his office has also drafted an amendment to the Government Cases Act and the regulations mending legal lacunas to move the case against rights violators as recommended by the national rights watchdog.
As per the current provision, the constitutional body forwards its recommendations to the Prime Minister’s Office for implementation. But the PMO has never asked the AG Office to implement the commission’s recommendations. The proposed amendment is aimed at streamlining the legal procedure for the government’s implementing agency to make the rights violators accountable.