Nepal: Govt. confusion delays disappearance commission

This article published on the 25th September 2008 in Kantipur denounces that confusion over which ministry (Home or Peace and Reconstruction) will take responsibility for the commission on disappeared persons, is delaying its formation.

The two government ministries--Home and Peace and Reconstruction--are yet to reach a decision on who will take the lead in forming the commission.

The delay is taking a heavy toll on the families of over 1,200 people who went missing during the decade-long armed conflict.

"Once the issue of its [commission's] jurisdiction is settled, the process of forming the commission will begin promptly," said an official at the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction (MoPR). "In principle, the Home Ministry has agreed to turn over the task of forming the commission to the Peace and Reconstruction Ministry."

The government in its Common Minimum Programme (CMP), publicised early in September, had pledged to form all six commissions "soon", including the commission for finding the whereabouts of the disappeared. It didn't offer any timeframe.

Although MoPR was dealing with disappearances, the issue went under the Home Ministry's purview when then Home Minister Krishna Sitaula introduced a separate bill on abduction and disappearance at the Law, Justice and Interim Parliament Affairs Committee last November. Considering the gravity of the issue, the committee cleared a bill on abduction and hostages but urged the then Home Minister Sitaula to introduce a separate bill on disappearances by early December.

Sitaula had pledged to produce a separate bill on disappearances by Dec. 6 but it never materialised.

"As the then Home Minister pledged to produce a separate bill on disappearances, the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction could not take up the issue on its own," the official said.

The official said MoPR will be able to take up the issue of disappeared persons only after the government produces an amendment bill in the Cabinet on work division among all the ministries. "I hope the amendment bill will be produced soon," he said. He said among the six commissions the government has placed the task of forming the commission on disappeared persons under top priority.

The MoPR is currently working on a draft bill on the commission on disappeared persons. "We are working on a war footing on preparations for forming the commission on disappeared persons," said the official. "The MoPR is planning to introduce the draft bill in parliament as soon as it gets the jurisdiction."

However, this is not the first time that MoPR is forming a commission on disappeared persons. A three-member High Level Probe Commission on Disappeared Persons (HLPCDP) was formed under former Supreme Court justice Narendra Bahadur Neupane last August.

But the commission could not make much headway due to strong criticism from national and international bodies, which said that the commission failed to incorporate international standards concerning forced disappearance.

"The commission was aborted as none of the members including its chief could take the oath of office and secrecy in the face of mounting criticism," the official said.

The HLPCDP was formed under the Inquiry Act, 2026 BS. Rights groups charged that the Inquiry Act doesn't authorise prosecutions. Formation of the commission also went against the Supreme Court verdict on June 1, 2007. The apex court had directed the government to form a commission on forced disappearances only after enacting a separate and comprehensive law. It had stated that current laws did not have the teeth to deal with disappearance issues. It had also asked the government to enact laws in compliance with the UN Convention of Enforced Disappearance.

Latest statistics published by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which deals with missing persons, states that the whereabouts of 1,227 persons, missing since the decade-long conflict, are still unknown. It has asked the government to immediately take the initiative to finding out the status of missing persons.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has held security personnel responsible for the disappearance of 726 persons and the Maoists for 266.

By GHANASHYAM OJHA

(source: Kantipur Govt confusion delays disappearance commission)