A source at the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction said that the bill is being presented in the next cabinet meeting for a final approval. Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Rakam Chemjong told myrepublica.com in an interview last week that the bill will be tabled in the parliament before Dashain festival. [break]
The bill proposes forming a commission of maximum five members. The members need to have ten years experience either in the filed of human rights or psychology or law or conflict or sociology or peace process. The government will appoint the members upon recommendation from a three-member committee to be headed by the Constituent Assembly chairman. The commission will also have a member from the National Human Rights Commission and a member nominated by the government.
The bill has recognized disappearance as the continued crime and proposes up to 15 years of jail and fine of up to Rs 1 million for the guilty.
The commission will have three responsibilities, according to the bill. First, the commission will probe the disappearances occurred between February 13, 1996, when the Maoist insurgency began, and November 21, 2006 when the Maoists signed a peace agreement with the then government. It will be the duty of the commission to inform facts on disappeared persons to their kin. The second responsibility, according the bill, is that the commission will also identify those involved in disappearing persons during the conflict time. Third, the bill gives authority to the commission to recommend to the government reparations for the victims.
Such a commission will enjoy authority to suspend those accused in disappearing people if they are holding any public post to prevent possible destruction of evidence by the accused.
Experts who have studied the bill say that there a couple of flaws in the bill. Human rights lawyer Govinda Bandi said that the bill would have been excellent had it defined disappearance as crime against humanity.
“The bill should define act of disappearing people as crime against humanity as it is committed systematically and in a widespread manner,” said Bandi. “It also fails to have adequate statute of limitation.”
kiran@myrepublica.com
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