The Accountability Watch Committee in Nepal, a rights group, on August 9 said the bill to amend the Disappearances Enquiry, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act contains serious errors. In a statement, the committee urged the authorities concerned to address the issues before the bill is endorsed by the federal parliament.
The statement jointly issued by the group’s coordinator Raju Prasad Chapagain, its office bearers and members, said that it was crucial to ensure a conducive environment for a sustainable and legitimate resolution of the transitional justice process.
While describing the consensus on transitional justice forged between the three major political parties as a positive development, the group said that the new arrangement should not encourage impunity.
The three-party taskforce to finalize the draft bill agreed to list rape or serious cases of sexual violence, intentional or arbitrary killing, enforced disappearances and inhumane or cruel torture as serious violations of human rights thus non-amnestiable. Rest of the cases fall as human rights violations and are amnestiable.
The taskforce agreed to reduce sentencing by up to 75 percent except in cases of rape or serious sexual violence.
The group has categorically opposed this provision.
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