Features

September 2008

Nepal: Status of TJ issues

Nepalese Prime Minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal
Photo by Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images.

I express sincere tribute and respect to those martyrs, disappeared and the wounded fighters of the People's War, People's Movement and Madhesi Movement who contributed to ushering in Federal Democratic Republic in the country, shattering all forms of oppression and exploitation - and I pledge to work for materializing their dreams in line with continued revolution and struggle.

These are the words of Nepal's newly elected prime minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal (popularly known by his nom-de-guerre Prachanda, "the fierce one"), in his first public address after taking office. He announced that family members of the martyrs, the disappeared and the injured would receive compensation.

Dahal, the leader of the former rebels turned political party, became prime minister after nearly four months of negotiations, following elections in which the Maoists emerged as the largest party in the Constituent Assembly. The CA has authority to rewrite the country's constitution. Among its first acts was to formally transform Nepal into a secular republic, abolishing the 240-year old Hindu monarchy.

Nepal's decade-long conflict cost an estimated 12,000 lives and displaced 100,000 people; both government forces and rebels routinely used torture. The Maoists now express a commitment to transitional justice, through proposals for a truth and reconciliation commission, a disappearance commission and a reparations program for conflict victims.

But there has been little progress on those proposals. A revised bill for a truth and reconciliation commission has received significant public criticism for including a broad amnesty provision and an apparent requirement of reconciliation before payment of reparations. ICTJ submitted comments on the draft legislation in August. A draft bill for a disappearance commission has meanwhile not been made public.

In August, the government announced relief programs for conflict-victims, paid for by the World Bank. ICTJ, in its formal comments on the proposals, noted the limited definition of victims in the guidelines, the focus on financial compensation and the complex process proposed for the identification of those eligible.