NEPAL: Human Rights in Abeyance

The dissolution of the Constituent Assembly in May 2012 stalled efforts to trigger debate on human rights and institutional reform. The political transition kept Nepal in limbo in 2013 as well, until a successful second Constituent Assembly elections on 19 November 2013. The elections have been lauded as peaceful by media and national and international observers. Voter turnout was around 78% as per the Election Commission of Nepal.

In spite of the vacuum in political leadership, the Nepali people continued to demand that impunity for human rights violations committed during the conflict be brought to an end. But the slow erosion of democratic institutions has left major human rights issues unaddressed in 2013. Criminal justice and rule of law reforms, required to create a system of accountability for human rights violations, have been pending since the end of conflict. Nepal's obligations under international law, to investigate and bring to book perpetrators of human rights violations, have not been met. Successive governments' attitude toward the legacy of injustice has been characterized by inaction at best, purposeful sabotage of all attempts for justice at worst.

These critical matters of governance, of institutional and legal lacunae, of incessant strikes and bandhs, and various aspects of human rights that have affected Nepali citizens in 2013 have been analyzed by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC). In commemoration of Human Rights Day on December 10, the (AHRC) is issuing a report on the State of Human Rights in Nepal, 2013.

The report may be accessed here.

The report details the unfulfilled obligations of the Nepal State. For instance, the 2007 Interim Constitution placed the duty on the State to fulfil its commitments and to establish a Commission, which would be entrusted with the investigation of enforced disappearances. Draft bills establishing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission on enforced disappearances have been withdrawn. Transitional justice mechanisms are yet to be established.

(2013-12-8/humanrights)