Speakers at a programme on 21 February, 2010 in Katmandu urged the Nepal government to ratify the Rome Statute to end the culture of impunity prevailing in the country.
They had urged for the timely rectification of the statute for ending every type of impunity in the country and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Addressing an interaction: ‘Accession to the Rome Statute’ organised by the Amnesty International Nepal, Upendra Yadav, chairman of the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) and also the former foreign minister , said that the crime is being ‘institutionalised’ at present where professionals are being hired to commit crime. He said that the concerned bodies are hesitant to punish the perpetrators of crime during the conflict period.
He urged the concerned agencies to establish rule of law and help promote tolerance in the society. Nepal should rectify the statute for ensuring all these,” viewed Yadav.
“Some parties have a misunderstanding that, once ratified, the ICC would backfire on them and their past crimes, which is not true,” said Yadav.
It was Yadav who had tabled the Accession Bill concerning Rome Statute of ICC to the Cabinet last year when he was foreign affairs minister. Although a final nod by the Cabinet would have completed the ratification, Yadav said, the Maoist leaders refused to support the bill.
On the occasion Deputy General Secretary and spokesperson of Nepali Congress Arjunnarsingh K.C. said that his party is positive towards rectification of the Rome Statute.
Krishna Kandel, former president of AI Nepal, said that human rights condition is in critical phase due to breakdown of law and order. “The agencies concerned are not working as per the aspiration of the Comprehensive Peace Accord,” he alleged, adding the government was unable to form the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
On the occasion President of AI Nepal Hem Kumar Khadka, President of Nepal Bar Association Prem Bahadur Khadka, Central Committee member of Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) Yashoda Timsina, Vice president of AI Nepal Keshab sigdel and Director Rameswar Nepal, General Secretary of Human Rights and Peace Society Gangadhar Adhikari had also expressed their own views on the occasion.
The parliament had issued a directive to the government for rectifying the Rome Statute on July 25, 2006. A working committee was also formed on October 18, 2006 for studying the pros and cons of the statute which submitted its report to the parliament on February 11, 2009.