On 24 December 2020, Advocacy Forum-Nepal organized a discussion meeting on the Transitional Justice (TJ) at Hotel Namaste, Attariya, Kailali District. The program focused on the discussion of the report “No Law, No Justice, No State for Victims- The Culture of Impunity in Post-Conflict Nepal” jointly published by AF-Nepal and Human Rights Watch. The program was attended by victims and members of civil societies from Kailali and Kanchanpur. Altogether, 34 participants-22 female and 12 male attended the program.
AF lawyer from Province 7, Bir Bahadur Bista welcomed the participants. Facilitating the program Bikash Basnet, Project Manager of AF detailed on the objectives and contents of the Impunity Report. Basnet shared that the report has tracked the progress or lack thereof 62 conflict cases, of which AF filed FIRs in various districts of Nepal. Furthermore, he informed that the report concludes that existing impunity in the human rights violations at present, is the consequence of the impunity in the atrocities committed in the past during the conflict.
Hira Bhandari, a victim participant shared that the only way to get justice is through collective effort generated through the unity and continued enthusiasm among the victims. Ganesh Malla shared that majority of victims did not get any relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important that the victims who are active in TJ and have some experience should support other victims in meeting with the authorities at the local and provincial level and put forward their concerns through Appeals and Memorandums.
Dharamraj Chaudhary thanked AF for supporting victims’ struggle for truth and justice for many years and providing a platform to discuss and assess the TJ process. He further mentioned that continuous effort and intervention is a must to move the process forward. Speaking in the program, the majority of the victims expressed the need for collective intervention and a common plan of action to break the stagnated TJ process. The participants further assessed that the existing TJ mechanisms need reconstitution as they failed to fulfil their mandate and demanded the law amendment as per the decision of the SC verdict and international standards.
The program concluded on an optimistic note that meetings and discussions among the victims will be continued, even if it is in small scale. AF committed to providing technical and financial support if needed.
The program was supported by Kurve Wustrow.
