Nepal conflict victims oppose amnesty for rights offenders

Mar 21, 2008, 5:45 GMT

Kathmandu - A majority of victims of Nepal's decade-long conflict say they oppose plans to grant amnesty to people involved in murder or extrajudicial killings, a report said Friday.

Nepali Voices: Perception of Truth, Justice, Reconciliation, Reparations and Transition in Nepal - surveyed 811 conflict victims in 17 districts that were hardest hit by the communist insurgency.

'There is very little support among respondents on allowing perpetrators to go free,' the report said.

The report is the first of its kind in Nepal and was carried out in an attempt to know the perceptions of the victims on justice, reconciliation and reparations ahead of the formation of the truth commission.

'More than 75 per cent of the respondents disagreed that they were ready to pardon the perpetrators,' the report said.

The majority of the conflict victims also urged that an impartial commission be established to determine the truth of human rights violation.

According to the report 73 per cent of the human rights violators were state agents while 17 per cent were Maoist rebels.

The proposed truth and reconciliation commission has run into controversy even before its formation over provisions to grant amnesty to those who were deemed to be following orders or acting for political reasons.

Opponents argue that the provision would allow most serious human rights offenders - both the members of the security forces and the Maoists - to escape justice.

The report said 85 per cent of the victims wanted human rights violators to be tried in a national court instead of an international court. However, the existing laws were inadequate for the trials, the report said.

Human rights organizations say both the security forces and the Maoists were involved in massive human rights violation during the insurgency in which nearly 14,000 people died.

Efforts to prosecute those responsible for the abuses have been hampered by non-cooperation by both sides in the armed conflict.