Kathmandu: Rights defenders, long involved in human rights and transitional justice process, in Kathmandu have raised serious objection to the published shortlist to fill positions in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) and have demanded that new names should be included in the TJ shortlist.
The names in the current shortlist were selected by the Recommendation Committee headed by retired Chief Justice Om Prakash Mishra.
Nepal’s human rights community has repeatedly and publicly demanded that the Recommendation Committee propose individuals who are knowledgeable on transitional justice, who do not have a controversial record, and who will be trusted by the community of conflict victims, the statement signed by rights defenders Kanak Mani Dixit, Sushil Pyakurel and Mohna Ansari said. “Eventually, a problematic list was published, and practically every conflict victim organization in the country joined in a statement on 6 December 2024 rejecting the names recommended for chairpersons of the two commissions.”
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“It has become clear to us that neither commission will have credibility if led by the individuals on the present shortlist, and even more so two individuals who are said to be favored by the political leadership,” they have said. “As such, in our view, the two commissions cannot expect cooperation from the human rights and conflict victim communities.”
Given the lack of credibility of the published shortlist, they have demanded that the Recommendation Committee should embark on a fresh exercise to put forward a shortlist of the two transitional justice mechanisms. “We have always been of the opinion that Nepal’s polity has the will and capacity to bring the transitional justice process to a just and proper conclusion, but the failure to establish a credible transitional justice commission is bound to attract international interest and involvement.”
The recommendation committee headed by Mishra had shortlisted candidates for 10 positions, including eight for the posts of chairpersons of the TRC and CIEDP. As many as 28 organizations representing the victim communities have already raised objection to the shortlist and demanded correction in the selection process.
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