9 March 2012. In three separate open letters issued yesterday, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and Advocacy Forum (AF) have urged the leaders of big three political parties, Nepali Congress (Click Letter To Koirala for the full text), the Communist Party of Nepal (UML) (Click Letter To Khanal for the full text) and the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (Click Letter To Dahal for the full text) not to include provisions providing blanket amnesty to perpetrators of grave human rights violations in the text of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Bill.
The two rights watchdogs have taken serious exception to the attempts of the party leaders to shield perpetrators implicated in gross human rights violations from prosecutions and evoked that they may place Nepal in breach of its international obligations to provide victims with an effective right to a legal redress, under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
In their letters, the AHRC and AF have recalled the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) and reiterated the leaders to abide by their commitments of accountability, justice and protection of victims’ rights made in the CPA. They have also insisted on the establishment of a political system upholding universally accepted fundamental human rights, the rule of law and the independence judiciary as mandated by the Interim Constitution.
The open letters urged the leaders to adopt the TJ institutions without further ado and pave the way for the much-delayed impartial and independent investigation of all allegations of human rights violations and for the prosecutions of perpetrators in proceedings that meet international standard of justice delivery.
