Nepal: Amend Transitional Justice Bill

The Nepali government has recently amended its current transitional justice law, marking a step further towards greater accountability.

However, TRIAL International and its partners are calling on the government to amend this bill since its current form still shields many perpetrators from being brought to justice, and does not meet Nepal’s obligations under international law.

Since 2015 the transitionnal justice process has been stalled by the successive governements, and victims struggle to obtain justice. Although the bill would remove some amnesty provisions, serious violations of international law, such as war crimes would remain almost impossible to sue. Moreover the bill introduced new limitations on the right to appeal, therefore adding another lock to the justice system.

If the government maintains this bill in its current form, the legal obstacles that have stalled the transistional justice system in Nepal will mostly remain, leaving once again victims without any effective remedies.

TRIAL International and its partners, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists are fighting to obtain from parliament amendments to the bill so that it provides a sound transitionnal justice process, but also so that it complies not only with Nepal’s own legal standards but also with its international obligations.