NAME OF MECHANISM

Commission of Inquiry to Locate the Persons Disappeared during the Panchayet Period

YEARS OF OPERATION

1990-1991

MANDATE AND OPERATIONS

Mandate: Established by Prime Minister to investigate and identify the final places of detention of those who had disappeared and identify additional victims between 1961-1990 (29 years)

Results: About 100 cases were investigated. Due to limited powers such as the inability to subpoena or name perpetrators, police were generally unresponsive.

FINAL REPORT

Report of the Commission of Inquiry to Locate the Persons Disappeared during the Panchayet Period (1991; released to public in 1994)

LATEST UPDATE

January 2008: On 1 June 2007 the Supreme Court, in a groundbreaking decision, ordered the Government of Nepal to establish a new Commission of Inquiry to investigate the enforced disappearances of citizens committed by the security forces and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) during the 10-year armed conflict. Though there are no accurate figures for the number of people who disappeared, estimates range from 600 (according to the Ministry of Home Affairs) to 3000 (according to the International Red Cross). Most of the disappearances are laid at the door of the Government Security Forces, with the Maoist rebels thought to be responsible for around 100 disappearances, according to the Informal Sector Service Centre. Maoist leaders deny this.

Echoing the Supreme Court's own concerns, NGOs and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights call for a Commission which fulfills the requirements of international human rights standards and would ensure the competence, credibility and impartiality of the Commission and would protect the human rights of both victims and perpetrators. However, 3 months on, the ruling of the Supreme Court has yet to be implemented.

Between May 2000 and January 2007, the National Human Rights Commission of Nepal received 2,028 cases of enforced disappearances. 600 of these still require investigation.