Issuing a press statement on 13 July 2021, fifty-seven human rights organizations, including eight international organizations reiterated that they would not engage with the transitional justice bodies if their tenure is extended without amending the Enforced Disappearances Enquiry, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act (TRC Act) as ordered by the Supreme Court.
The organizations that included victims’ associations issued the joint statement at a time when the term of the commissioners of these two commissions – Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) – will end on 15 July 2021. Although the Supreme Court of Nepal ruled for the amendment of the TRC Act six years ago and civil society and victims repeatedly called the government to enforce the court’s decision, the Government continues to extend the mandates of these mechanisms without amending the Act. As a result, these commissions have not been able to conclude a single case.