International legal experts: Accountability gap for civil war crimes in Nepal must be closed now to ensure future peace and justice
Lawyers say recently passed Transitional Justice Law a ‘huge step towards delivering justice for victims’, but express ‘significant concerns’ regarding flaws meaning perpetrators may not be held to account.
Report says the failure to provide transitional justice is part and parcel of an ‘ongoing culture of impunity which fosters present day rights violations’ in Nepal.
Guaranteeing access to justice in line with international standards is ‘the iron test the Nepali government must now finally meet’, says a representative of the group.
Experts urge the government to develop a roadmap for ‘victim-centred transitional justice’, putting historically marginalised groups front and centre.
They highlight the lasting impact impunity has on victims: ‘catastrophic ramifications’ include life-altering injuries, psychological trauma, and relatives disappeared.
Call for the international community to help ensure international law is upheld and transitional justice resources and mechanisms are operated in a way that ensures victims’ rights to effective remedies.
London, 24 October 2023
A new report by a high-level fact-finding mission of international human rights lawyers has called on the Nepali state to seize the opportunity provided by a new legislation and finally provide accountability, truth, justice and comprehensive reparations to victims of the country’s decade-long armed conflict.
They used an event in London to highlight gaps in the Transitional Justice Law which passed in August after years of political wrangling, and to urge the government to develop a roadmap for implementation which deliberately and sensitively removes obstacles to justice for victims from historically vulnerable or marginalised groups.
Peace without Justice and Accountability? - A caution against impunity in post-conflict Nepal calls on both Nepal and the international community to prioritise an approach to transitional justice which is in line with Nepal’s obligations under international law, constitutional law and the judgments of its Supreme Court.
The lawyers travelled to Kathmandu, Nepalgunj, Bardiya and Janakpur in Nepal in March 2024. They met victims of human rights violations committed during and since the conflict, members of the judiciary, civil society organisations, local and national government, diplomats, journalists and UN representatives, to assess the rule of law and access to justice.
“The Nepali civil war ended in 2006, yet for its victims the violations continue”, said Camila Zapata Besso, a UK human rights expert. “The new law provides an opportunity, but its implementation must be victims-focused and rooted in international law if it is to finally provide truth, justice and reparations for all.”
The report contains an extensive analysis of the Transitional Justice Bill which has now been enacted into law. The lawyers conclude that the current law alone excludes swathes of victims from transitional justice, and permits amnesties which would prevent criminal accountability for gross violations of human rights, including those amounting to international crimes. They argue that, until an effective transitional justice process is in place, then the doors to the regular justice system should not be closed to civil war victims.
“Justice for serious human rights violations prevents recurrence, secures dignity for victims whose former abusers are made to answer for their crimes, establishes a record of past events, promotes national reconciliation and contributes to lasting peace”, said María del Rosario Arango Zambrano, a Colombian expert on transitional justice. “That is why it is so important to get these things right”.
“There are definitional issues in the law that will need to be rectified one way or the other”, said Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena, a constitutional lawyer from Sri Lanka. “Effective transitional justice will not be possible so long as the process conflates human rights violations and international crimes, excludes certain gross violations, opens the door for amnesties, and allows for the exclusion of certain victims”.
From 1996 to 2006, tens of thousands of Nepalis suffered serious human rights violations, including unlawful killing, enforced disappearance, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, recruitment of child soldiers, arbitrary arrest and forced displacement in a war between the then royal government and Maoist rebels. Transitional justice is key pillar of the 2006 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, but has not been implemented. The lawyers’ report concludes that “Justice is already overdue, and should not be denied to victims any longer.”
Download the press release in English here
Download the full report in English here
Download the press release in Nepali here
Download the full report in Nepali here
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