NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
time when the government does not live up to the laws and policies related to human
rights, which itself has enforced, it is essential that human rights organisations, the international
community, civil society, political parties and professional organisations either protest or
put pressure on the government. As for the Commission, on matters relating especially to
disappearances and abductions, it is essential that it not limit itself to receiving petitions,
corresponding with the concerned agencies, preparing files, publishing the number of petitions
filed and making statements. It must vigorously push for action against such acts against
humanity. It is of utmost urgency that a solution is found to the problem by cooperating
with the civil society, political parties, human rights activists, professional organisations and
NGOs.
Ever since its establishment, there have been numerous petitions of human rights violations
at the Commission. For example, during the first report period in the first year, there
were 528 petitions, whereas in the second report period there were 302 petitions. There
were 483 the following year and 1,083 petitions during this report period. The Commission
faces difficulty in initiating action, inquiring and investigating into the petitions.The government
has mobilised the Royal Nepalese Army, Civil Police and Armed Police Force under a unified
command of the security forces to provide security following the ordinance to control
terrorism 2061.
Since the majority of the complaints filed at the Commission deal with disappearances,
extra-judicial executions and illegal detention, the Commission has written to the armed
police, civil police and other agencies of HMG for the truth. However, the Commission
either fails to receive the information it is seeking or the response is late, incomplete or
inadequate. There has also been an attitude to ignore the recommendations given, posing
problems in settling the petitions. The Commission claims that although it was somewhat
easy to acquire information from and gain access to the police, the same could not be said
for the Royal Nepalese Army. On the one hand, the Supreme Court has been requesting
the Commission to probe into the disappearances and file a report, but on the other hand,
it has not been easy for the Commission to gain access to the army’s barracks. This poses
obstacles in not only looking into the complaints but also executing the orders of the
court.
Based on the complaints filed at the Commission that the disappearances were carried out
by the state and the Maoists, it has published the names of those persons who have gone
missing to draw the attention of the related sides to the issue.
Apart from the above mentioned reasons, the Commission has not been able to effectively
carry out its actions on the complaints because of its limited resources and manpower. As
a result, there has been a proportionate decrease in the number of investigations and
inquiries made into the petitions in relation to the increasing number of petitions received
at the Commission. The Commission, established by an Act to protect and preserve human
rights, has not received the expected cooperation from the different agencies. On the
other hand, the rebel side has been ignoring the request made by the Commission to
respect human rights and humanistic laws. As a result, the Commission faces a big challenge
in executing national and international laws.
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