KATHMANDU, March 17: Law and Justice Minister Narahari Acharya claimed that the government has been working for ratifying Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in the near future.
The Rome Statute is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court in Hague. After ratifying the Rome Statute, perpetrators of serious rights violation, crime against humanity and war crimes could be tried in The Hague. The ICC currently has 122 states as members.
Speaking at the launching ceremony of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Handbook for Parliamentarians and Civilian Authorities in Kathmandu on Monday, Minister Acharya said that the government has been working in the direction of fulfilling all the commitments it has made in the international forums.
"As the parliament passed a resolution and directed government to make necessary arrangements for the ratification of the Rome Statute, the government has already formed a taskforce to conduct a study about the process and its effect," said Minister Acharya.
"Though we are currently more focused on drafting constitution, the government has also been working to fulfill our international commitments," he added.
Speaking at the same function, Speaker Subas Chandra Nembang had urged the government not to forget the resolution passed by parliament to ratify the Rome Statute.
"It is often said about Nepal that we make international commitments very easily but are way behind in fulfilling and executing them. We should now draft laws according to our international commitments and execute them," said Nembang.
"We cannot fulfill the commitments by running the country through an interim constitution. The Constituent Assembly should draft new constitution at any cost," he added.
After the 2006 movement, the parliament had passed a resolution and directed the government to make necessary arrangements for the ratification of the Rome Statute.
Though Nepal has already became a state party to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention and the 2000 Optional Protocol to the Child Rights Convention, Nepal has yet to ratify the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions, the 1954 Hague Convention on Cultural Property, the 1997 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention and the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Nembang opined that the publication of IHL Handbook for parliamentarians and civil authorities could help lawmakers to become aware about their roles in fulfilling international commitments made by the state.
National IHL Committee of the Government of Nepal, Nepal Red Cross Society and International Committee of the Red Cross has jointly published the handbook.
"Parliamentarians have a unique and extensive role when it comes to implementing IHL obligations. While the ultimate responsibility under the Geneva Conventions for the implementation and dissemination of IHL must fall on the executive, parliament has a critical role to play," said Anthony Dalziel, the head of operations for South Asia at ICRC.
"Parliamentarians are not only tasked with overseeing the implementation of the government policy but have a crucial role in relation to introducing, promoting, defending and disseminating legislation and principles," he added.
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