New York : Nepali legislators should reject problematic provisions of the proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) bill introduced in parliament, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists said Thursday.
Despite a Jan 2 directive from the Nepali Supreme Court that the law must meet international legal standards, the bill contains provisions for amnesty that violate international law, the three groups said.
In particular, the bill retains language from a 2012 executive ordinance that permitted amnesty for crimes under international law committed during Nepal’s civil war.
A landmark Supreme Court ruling rejected the ordinance, and explicitly directed the government to introduce a new bill in compliance with Nepal’s obligations under international law.
Amnesty for gross human rights violations, such as those enumerated in the bill, is prohibited by international law.
“The Nepali government seems to have simply tabled a mildly reworked version of the 2012 ordinance despite the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment on transitional justice,” said Sam Zarifi, Asia-Pacific regional director at the International Commission of Jurists.
“This deliberately undermines the judiciary, and raises serious concerns over the government’s respect for the rule of law in Nepal.”
On March 25, the Nepali government announced it would present draft laws to establish the TRC and a commission of inquiry into disappearances within 15 days.
An expert task force established by the government proposed revised language, but this text was not incorporated into the draft.