President authenticates amendment bill on TRC, CIEDP

Kathmandu / Feb 08: President Bidya Devi Bhandari authenticated an amendment bill on the ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons Act-2071’, on Friday.

The president authenticated the amendment bill in line with the Article 113 (2) of the Constitution, the President’s Office stated in a press statement.

With the approval of the bill, the terms of Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons have been extended for a year.

Earlier, the House of Representatives and the National Assembly had endorsed the bill, extending the terms of the two commissions for a year at first and for a further year if needed. The commissions were formed to investigate conflict-era cases.

The twice-extended terms of the two commissions were to expire on Saturday. Formed in 2015 with a two-year deadline, the two commissions’ terms were extended for the first time in 2017 through a cabinet decision. The second extension came in 2018 through an amendment of the relevant act.

The TRC and CIEDP have been working on 61,000 and 3,000 complaints respectively. The TRC has concluded preliminary investigations into about 3,000 complaints while the CIEDP has investigated some 2,100 complaints.

Officials at the two commissions blame lack of resources and coordination for their sluggish progress while the conflict victims and stakeholders stress the need for their restructuring to make their work more effective.