“To date, not a single perpetrator has been brought to justice for grave human rights violations before a civilian court,” US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Nepal-based Advocacy Forum (AF) said in a report released on Friday. [break]
The report entitled Still Waiting for Justice: No End to Impunity in Nepal evaluates progress in investigation and prosecution in 62 cases of killings, disappearances and torture between 2002 and 2006.
The report is a follow-up of their similar report on same cases published last year.
The organizations have accused the Nepal Army, Armed Police Force and Unifed CPN (Maoist) for not cooperating with investigation in these cases.
“The politicians, police, prosecutors and army are letting the people of Nepal down once again,” said Brad Adams, Asia Director of Human Rights Watch, who is in Kathmandu to release the report.
The police have still refusing to register the criminal complaints despite court orders in 10 cases, the report said. It further adds that no investigations have been carried out in 24 cases where the complaints were registered.
“We had expected justice to victims after the peace process began. But this hope has now been dashed,” said Mandira Sharma, executive director of Advocacy Forum, at the report release program in Lalitpur. “For too long, families of victims have had to fight for truth and justice, despite these repeated delays and obstacles.”
The organizations have also called on ‘influential international actors’ to promote security forces, including the establishment of effective oversight and accountability mechanism for the security process.
Releasing the report, Chief of UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nepal (OHCHR-N) Richard Bennett said that impunity has been the cause and consequence of conflict in Nepal.
He also expressed concern over the gap between what the government´s commitment to human rights and the translation of the commitment in practice.
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