A team of Nepali cross-party leaders are visiting Colombia to witness the transitional justice process in the South American country.

Two leaders each from three major parties and a member of the National Human Rights Commission will be interacting with the stakeholders in the transitional justice process in the country, particularly the judges of the Special Court. They will stay there for six days.

Ramesh Lekhak and Radheshyam Adhikari from the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML’s Pradeep Gyawali and Agni Kharel, Janardan Sharma and Khimlal Devkota of the CPN (Maoist Centre) and Surya Dhungel, a member of the commission, are leaving for Colombia on Thursday.

“We are going there to study the performance of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (SJP),” Lekhak told the Post. The SJP is a Colombian transitional justice mechanism created as part of a peace agreement signed between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group in 2016.

Lekhak said they will witness firsthand how conflict has been managed in the country where violence lasted for more than three decades. Over 400,000 people were killed in the conflict that started in 1985 until the peace deal was signed between the government and FARC in 2016.

While FARC joined the peace process, several armed outfits are still in a war against the Colombian government.

A team of the cross-party leaders had visited Colombia last year as well when they held meetings with FARC leaders and former President Juan Manuel Santos who had signed the peace deal.

The members of the visiting team claim Colombia is a good example for Nepal for the successful conclusion of the transitional justice process. Kharel said Colombia presents the most successful story of the transitional justice process in recent times.

“This time, we will be interacting mostly with the judges of the Special Tribunal formed to hear the conflict-era cases,” Kharel told the Post. The bill to amend the Enforced Disappearance Enquiry, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act in Nepal also envisions setting up a Special Court to hear the cases recommended by the two transitional justice commissions.

A member of the visiting team said their primary motive is to study how the Special Tribunal is implementing the principle of reduced sentencing. The Colombian legislation on transitional justice has a provision of reduced sentencing if the perpetrators cooperate in revealing the truth.

Cross-party leaders in Nepal have also agreed in principle for the provision of reduced sentencing. They, however, are divided over its modality. “The visit will be helpful in understanding how we can adopt the practice of reduced sentencing in our transitional justice process,” the leader said.

Nepali leadership has long been influenced by the Colombian model of peace process, though it claims Nepal follows its own homegrown model. The first draft bill to amend the Act made public in 2018 had adopted different provisions from the Colombian legislation with some modification. It, however, was never tabled in Parliament as it met with widespread criticism.

The team comprising the leaders from the ruling and the main opposition parties are travelling to study the Colombian model while the country’s transitional justice process has been paralysed as they fail to find a meeting in the amendment bill.

The two transitional justice commissions have been defunct since July 2022, after the government decided to extend their terms without retaining their chairmen and members. Against the government’s claim that the bill to amend the Act would be endorsed by October 2022, which will also open the door for recruiting new office bearers, there has been no progress in amending the Act.

The major political parties, despite making several attempts, have not been able to find a meeting point in the bill though there has been some progress.

After year-long discussions, the Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee of the House of Representatives has narrowed down the differences in the bill. However, the House panel had been struggling to decide whether to categorise arbitrary killings or all killings except those that occurred in clashes as serious violations of human rights. It had also been unable to decide what happens in case the victims of human rights violations refuse to reconcile.

There has been no discussion on the bill since the formation of the UML-Maoist coalition on March 4.

“Every country has its own strengths and weaknesses,” Dhungel, the member of the commission, told the Post. “I believe we will get to witness both sides of the Colombian transitional justice process during the visit.”