Nepal law could allow war crime amnesty: lawyers

Newly amended laws in Nepal to tackle crimes committed during its decade-long bitter civil war could instead deprive victims of justice and grant amnesty to those culpable, rights lawyers warned Thursday.

Both government forces and former rebels are accused of carrying out torture, killings, rapes and forced disappearances during Nepal’s Maoist insurgency.

The conflict ended in 2006 with a peace deal that brought the rebels into government and promised justice for the victims, whick included more than 16,000 dead and around 1,000 missing.

Nepal’s two transitional justice commissions began operating in 2015, but failed to resolve a single case, despite receiving over 60,000 complaints of murders, torture and unexplained disappearances.

In August, parliament passed long-delayed amendments to the transitional justice act aiming to address this.

But a team of international rights lawyers, in a report released Thursday and based on a research mission to Nepal, warned the changes could do the opposite and exclude “swathes of victims” from justice.

The lawyers added that the new law “permits amnesties which would prevent criminal accountability for gross violations of human rights”.

The lawyers said that until addressed, the “doors to the regular justice system should not be closed”.

The group was supported by rights organisation Peace Brigades International (PBI).

Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena, a constitutional lawyer from Sri Lanka, and part of the team, said effective justice was not possible so long as the law “excludes certain gross violations, opens the door for amnesties and allows for the exclusion of certain victims”.

Just two convictions related to crimes committed during the civil war crimes have been handed down in civilian courts.

One was linked to the murder of a teenage girl. The other was related to the killing of a journalist.