Kathmandu, November 10
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons, established to address Nepal’s transitional justice process, have been without office-bearers for the past seven months.
The government issued the Ordinance on Special Provisions Relating to the Removal of Public Office-holders, 2026, on May 5. Under the ordinance, the then office-bearers of both commissions were removed from their positions. No new appointments have been made to fill the vacancies since then.
With no officials in place, the commissions have been unable to carry out their work.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission initially received 63,718 complaints. Following amendments to the relevant law in 2024, the deadline for filing complaints was extended, particularly to allow conflict victims who had missed the earlier opportunity to come forward. This included women who had suffered sexual violence and rape during the conflict.
More than 15,000 additional complaints were registered during the extended period, bringing the total number of complaints at the commission to 78,909.
National Assembly member Khamm Bahadur Khati, a former attorney general, says the commissions’ prolonged vacancy has prevented progress in addressing the complaints.
“The commissions have no office-bearers. There is work to be done there,” he says. “The commissions need to be reconstituted, the complaints examined and the process taken forward.”
Khati was also involved in a study conducted by a subcommittee under the Legislation Management Committee of the National Assembly, which examined the implementation of laws and the state of transitional justice.
The study found that transitional justice had not received adequate priority from the government.
“Along with formulating laws and procedures, the tasks ahead include securing political consensus, strengthening the institutional capacity of the commissions and ensuring justice for victims,” Khati says. “But once again, the government does not appear to have made this issue a priority.”
He also said that the law and justice minister had expressed a commitment to implementing provisions related to the TRC Act, but that the government had yet to demonstrate action consistent with that commitment.
