The drafting committee, formed by International Humanitarian Law (IHL) committee, is in its preliminary discussions with the representatives of ICRC and Red Cross Society to bring the Act at the earliest. [break]
The Supreme Court in 2003 had directed the government to draft an Act related to Geneva Convention. But the government formed an International Humanitarian Law (IHL) committee in 2007 only.
The drafting committee is holding discussions over issues like whether to include the experiences of conflict or not. "As soon as the drafting committee was formed, it started discussions on issues like categorization of criminals as per the nature of crime, whether to include the experiences of conflict period or not, and the provisions of punishment related to crime," a highly-placed source said.
It is still being debated whether to draft separate punishment provisions for Four Geneva Conventions. The Four Geneva Conventions, which Nepal signed on February 7, 1964, are conventions for the amelioration of the condition of the wounded and sick in armed forces, convention for the amelioration of the condition of wounded, sick and shipwork members of armed forces at sea, convention related to the treatment of prisoners of war, and convention related to the protection of civilian persons in times of war.
For now, the drafting committee is working on a common draft that captures the spirit of all four conventions.
The committee is also discussing whether to give the right of any criminal case to the district court or the special court. However, the preliminary draft says that the court doesn´t indicate Army Court even if the criminal case is related to army.
Decades of delay to promulgate such Act till date has left many accused criminals outside justice, say experts.
"The lack of Act in accordance with the Geneva Convention has left many accused criminals of before, during and after decade-long conflict out of justice," the source told Republica, adding, "If an Act defining the nature of crime and punishment were brought, those accused criminals, maybe from Nepal Army or then rebel Maoist, during decade-long conflict would have been brought to justice."
The draft which is under discussion has provisions that life-long imprisonment would be given to one who commits premeditated murder and 14 years of imprisonment for other kinds of murder.
"It may still take another 7 to 8 months to finalize the draft alone as the issues like categorizing the type of criminal activities and defining punishment accordingly are very tough," the source concluded. After the committee finalizes the draft, the Ministry of Law and Justice will present it before the cabinet.
Related story
UML to hold district convention on January 7
