The civil war that took place from 1996 to 2006 has left Nepal in a shattered space for women. During the 10 year period, women were faced with gender-based violence and sexual abuse leading to thousands of death counted, to be of women. There has been a lack of political support or pressure to create agendas that bring justice to women who have been faced with violence during that time frame. It has been around 15 years since the end of the civil war; however
, there have been less than 400 cases that have been brought to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Along with, little to none of those cases has been brought to justice. Thousands of women are fearful of retaliation from their predators along with government officials. It was not just Maoist rebels that attack women who did not join their troops but; security forces in the Nepalese military abused, raped, and kidnapped thousands of women as well. The government has been urging women to come forth about the violence they have faced however, many still live in fear. The government has
The two pillars of the transitional justice process are the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) have been used as means to rebuild and reconcile victims of violence during the Civil War. These commissions have been used to move Nepal into accountability and reintegrating themselves into providing for the people.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
- The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is the most prominent of several commitments made during the peace process to promote transitional justice following Nepal’s more than 10-year civil war—along with a committee to investigate disappeared persons and a commission to investigate abuses of the armed forces and police during democracy protests in 2006” (Cochran-Budhathoki, Karon, and Scott Worden. “Transitional Justice in Nepal: A Look at the International Experience of Truth Commissions .” )
- Created as the first form of the transitional justice process
- Complaints and reports of violence, abuse, rapes, etc. during the 10-year war will be brought to the TRC, nearly 60,000 cases have been brought as of 2020
- A means to create possible reparations for the abused victims and build support around them as a result of the Civil War
- Investigate the crimes of the Maoist Army and the Nepalese Military and hold them accountable
Flaws of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
- The government that has been in office has dismissed the aspect of transparency, justice, and truth. The government has created a flawed system where there is a lack of support for the victims and a lack of action from their side
- Provisions that were possibly included allows for amnesty for perpetrators while ignoring the longstanding claims and demands from the victims. The leniency of the preparators presents the lack of care and attention to the crimes committed.
- International organizations like International Communication of Jurist, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, etc. had to pressure the Nepal government to remove concerning provisions due to the surge of Human Rights violations against women
- Vague definitions of what is considered sexual crime lead to a lack of criminal accountability along with grey spaces of what can be brought to the TRC as violence.
- Few investigations were carried out on the cases brought to the TRC while many cases went unsolved and unaddressed. Many families feel abandoned by the Commission due to aid from the commission such as housing, reparations, and health care.
Commission on the Investigation of Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP)
- This commission was formed as part of the transitional justice process of the investigation of the thousands of people who were missing, displaced, and kidnapped during the Civil War in 2014
- This commission is seen as a part of the transitional justice process along with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
- The main purpose is to investigate and compile information about the thousands missing from the Civil War. Aside from killings, rapes, and beatings; women and men were kidnapped from their homes and forced to join either, the Maoist army or the Nepalese military.
- The commission solely relies on the citizen’s accounts to piece together the information because the citizens are the sole people who witnessed and experienced the acts of both parties
Flaws in The Commission on the Investigation of Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP)
- However, nearly 3,000 cases have been brought to the commission as of 2020 but none of the cases has gone anywhere. The commission has failed to find what has happened to those people along with failing to hold anyone accountable.
- Many of the citizens have lost faith in the commission due to their lack of commitment
- “The Commission would not be working in a victim-friendly environment due to legal provisions of the TRC Act,” (Victim Sibling Ten years after the peace, is Nepal finally serious about finding it’s disappeared?)
- The government has made it increasingly hard to try the perpetrators because it will reveal the flaws within the government which will expose the instability throughout the organization
- “Their signal of impunity will further push the victims and activists to seek justice internationally under universal jurisdiction. Instead of putting those suspected of criminal responsibility into positions of power, the government should bring them to justice in fair trials.”
There is a lack of trust in the policies being implemented within Nepal from all civilians and victims of the Civil War. The attitude portrayed by the government reveals that the rights and protection of women are secondary while protecting the violators and preparators. The number of provisions of amnesty towards perpetrators while not building a strong foundation for reparations is why there has been a decline in faith in the government officials. The policies in place are restricting these women’s voices and increasing the fear of retaliation against speaking up. There needs to be a change in how women’s violence is dealt with to increase the means of accountability for one’s actions.