President authenticates TRC Bill

BY A STAFF REPORTER,Kathmandu, Aug. 30: President Ramchandra Paudel has authenticated the Commission of Investigation on the Enforced Disappeared Persons and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act (third amendment) Bill, 2024.

Issuing a press statement on Thursday, Shailaja Regmi Bhattarai, Spokesperson for the Office of the President, informed that the President authenticated the bill as per Article 113 (2) of the Constitution of Nepal. 

The authentication of the much-talked-about Bill related to Nepal’s peace process is expected to resolve the cases of conflict period by finding out the truth. 

Earlier this month, both the houses of the Federal Parliament endorsed the Bill.The House of Representatives passed the Bill with a majority on August 15 and the National Assembly endorsed it on August 22. 

It took almost 18 years for the political parties to agree to investigate the cases of the conflict period and resolve them. The process of transitional justice started right after the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) was signed between the then CPN-Maoist and the government on November 21, 2006. 

After the agreement, the country entered the peace process but the cases of heinous crimes committed during the armed conflict from 1996 to 2006 have not been resolved as the stakeholders failed to reach a consensus.

The CPA provisioned the formation of a commission within one year to investigate the human rights violations that occurred during the conflict and that the situation of the enforced disappeared persons would be made public within six months. In the Interim Constitution, it was mentioned that the commission would be formed within six months.

Eight years after the CPA signing, although two commissions were formed on the political divide, their terms expired in four years without achieving anything. The government again appointed office bearers with new political divisions. The second commission could not work either. The past commissions could not do anything other than collect complaints. 

Only on August 1, a breakthrough was made after a taskforce coordinated by Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak from Nepali Congress with Deputy General Secretary Janardan Sharma from CPN-Maoist and Chief Whip Mahesh Kumar Bartaula from CPN-UML as members reached a consensus to move ahead by resolving disputed issues.

After the task force reached the consensus, it submitted its report to top leaders of three political parties, UML chair and Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, Nepali Congress president and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, and CPN (Maoist Centre) chairman and former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on August 7. Following the agreement between top-level political leaders, the 40th meeting of the Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee of the House of Representatives on August 8 unanimously passed the Bill and the Bill reached the Lower House. Now, the President has authenticated the same. 

Records show that as many as 3,223 complaints of enforced disappearances implicating either security forces or the Maoists have been lodged at the Disappearances Commission. It has picked for investigation 2,494 cases falling under its jurisdiction. Similarly, 63,718 complaints have been registered with the Truth Commission.

Meanwhile, RSS adds: Ten different countries including the US and the UK have jointly welcomed the endorsement of the Investigation of Disappeared Persons, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act 2071 (Amendment) Bill passed with a consensus by both houses of the Federal Parliament of Nepal.

The Switzerland, Australia, Norway, Japan, Finland, EU, Germany and France join the two countries in welcoming the move and pledge to explore possible mechanisms for support to the Government of Nepal for the benefit of the victims, as the Government outlines a path forward.

“The continued participation of the victims in decision-making processes will aid the effective implementation of the TRC Act. We look forward to hearing from the Government of Nepal about specific needs to support effective delivery by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission on the Investigation of Enforced Disappeared Persons”, reads the joint statement released here on Thursday.     

“Now is the time for all stakeholders to band together in support of bringing this segment of Nepal’s history to a successful conclusion.”