Kathmandu, Nepal, July 24, 2019: Notwithstanding the widespread concerns from the concerned stakeholders to amend the Transitional Justice Act (TJA) before appointing members of two transitional justice mechanisms- Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIENDP), the government has made a plan to appoint the office bearers of the two transitional justice mechanisms.
As the government and ruling allies are exerting pressure the committee formed to recommend office bearers of the two transitional justice mechanisms by August 15, the committee has been preparing to recommend some names for the two commissions sans addressing the genuine concerns raised from the concerned stakeholders.
The victims of decade-long Maoist armed conflict have demanded even restructuring of the committee. Likewise, Accountability Watch Committee (AWC) has also repeatedly been appealing the government and the concerned stake holders for the amendment of the Act.
As the incumbent government does not seem serious over the concerns raised by the concerned stake holders, various national and international rights watch agencies have also been cautioning the government to fulfill the fundamental values and norms exercised in the international arena.
The government had formed the committee last week of March with the mandate for the recommend the names of the office bearers. But the committee’s tenure has repeatedly been extending on the name of seeking political consensus on appointment of members and chairpersons of the two commissions.
Political parties, particularly the ruling head Nepal Communist Party (NCP), and the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) differs on key contentious issues to end the transitional justice mechanism of the country.
