KATHMANDU, July 21: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday stated that the government has executed only 14.3 percent of the total number of recommendations forwarded to it, and termed this state of affairs disappointing.
Following thorough study, NHRC had made 738 recommendations to the government concerning human rights violation cases till last year, including cases from the conflict era. Stating the need to reinvestigate the status of implementation of its recommendations, NHRC has cited 14 representative cases out of the total.
Unveiling its study report at its office, NHRC said, “In the 14 cases of serious human rights violation, the government has sentenced only one individual accused of crime and terminated his service.”
However, government statistics claim that more than 30 percent of the recommendations have been implemented.
The commission said it visited the victims in person to check if they had been provided justice as per the recommendations of the constitutional body. Probe committees also visited the security agencies to acquire related information.
Among the representative cases, one was related to death in a communal clash, nine were related to killings by government and rebel Maoist forces, two cases concerned caste-based discriminations and one involved violence against women.
According to a statement issued by NHRC spokesperson Mohana Ansari, in the recommendations made to the government, the commission named 78 perpetrators, asked the government to identify the perpetrators in 263 cases, and recommended 51 cases for the government to provide justice as per existing law.
NHRC urges govt to end torture in custody and prisons
Similarly, 35 cases were recommended for punishment as per criminal law, and investigations were sought in 27 cases before imposition of any sanction. In 512 cases, compensation for the victims was recommended.
The study also forwarded its ideas on issuing proper identity cards to the victims and systematizing the data related to them while formulating new laws related to the local bodies.
The study has cited the need of special directives to address human rights violations as the directives formulated by the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction covered only cases from the conflict era.
“It was not a wise decision to compensate the victims of the recent tarai movement on the basis of political decisions alone,” the statement reads. The study has also sought timely review and amendments in the existing legal framework and formulation of victim friendly laws.
