As the committee tasked with selecting office bearers for the two transitional justice commissions inches closer to finalising the names, conflict victims and human rights organisations have called on the panel to adopt a transparent and credible selection process.

The five-member panel, led by former Chief Justice Om Prakash Mishra, has shortlisted 34 individuals for the 10 positions—five members, including a chairperson, each for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons.

Among the total, eight have been picked for the two positions of chairs while the remaining 26 have been shortlisted for eight member positions. As many as 111 former judges, former government secretaries, professors, lawyers, human rights defenders and conflict victims had applied for chairpersons or members.

Agni Prasad Thaliaya, Achyut Bhandari, Dilli Raj Acharya, Mahesh Thapa, Lila Devi Gadtaula, Bijay Singh Sijapati, Bishwo Raj Koirala and Sher Bahadur KC are the candidates for the two chairperson positions. Similarly, Subodh Pyakurel, Raju Prasad Chapagain, Tika Prasad Dhakal, Santosh Babu Sigdel, and Gopal Nath Yogi have been shortlisted as members. The list also includes Srijana Pokharel, Binita Nepali, Gopal Prasad Lamsal, Shobhakhar Budhathoki, Man Bahadur Bishwokarma, and Brahmadev Yadav, among others.

The committee will make final recommendations after reviewing the presentations of all shortlisted candidates. The presentations will be held over three days starting May 7.

Though the selection committee claims to have prepared the shortlist through a rigorous process, conflict victims have raised questions over the grounds on which the selections were made.

“We have been reiterating the need to make public the selection criteria, but the selection committee has chosen to ignore us,” Suman Adhikari, founding chairperson of the Conflict Victims Common Platform, told the Post. “How can we trust that the shortlist was prepared on merit?”

Similarly, six human rights organisations, including Amnesty International Nepal, Advocacy Forum, and Accountability Watch Committee have called on the committee to strictly adhere to a transparent selection process, including thorough background checks of all applicants and public hearings, and to nominate only qualified and capable individuals without making any compromises.

“It is of utmost importance that the officials of the selection committee, along with all authorities concerned, internalise the bitter reality that when appointments to transitional justice commissions and other public institutions have been influenced by partisan politics, undue pressure, and vested interests, it has consistently led to widespread public frustration and the failure of those institutions to fulfill their mandates,” reads their joint statement.

They have also urged the stakeholders to conduct public vetting of candidates under consideration in order to prevent a repeat of the situation whereby individuals who have made no substantive contribution to transitional justice end up being recommended.

The rights organisations have also urged Prime Minister and Chairman of CPN-UML KP Sharma Oli, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, and CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to act as facilitators of the transitional justice process and to ensure that no direct or indirect pressure is exerted during the selection and appointment of officials.

Conflict victims say they have heard that preparations are being made to appoint even those who lack an understanding of transitional justice, and those who have defended perpetrators in legal cases involving human rights violations during the insurgency era. “We warn that the entire process will lose legitimacy if such people are picked,” said Adhikari.

The selection committee, however, claims that the shortlisting was done based on merit. “While shortlisting the candidates, in addition to qualifications, we have also looked at competence, experience and their ability to work with victims,” Lily Thapa, a member of the recommendation committee who represents the National Human Rights Commission, told the Post. “The best of the best will be nominated for office bearers.”

The truth and disappearance commissions have been defunct since mid-2022 in the absence of their office bearers. 

Here is the list of shortlisted candidates: