The International Day of the Disappeared is an opportunity for the world to remember those who went missing and disappeared during conflicts. There is little discussion about the more than 1,500 Nepalis who disappeared during the People’s War. Their relatives are still waiting for answers, living in a state of protracted ambiguity and anguish. Their suffering is further compounded by a government that, despite its direct role in perpetrating disappearances, is not serious in its efforts to aid the families of the disappeared. It has also failed to consider the victims’ agenda and their right to truth and justice.

The Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) was formed in early 2015 without a provision to establish enforced disappearance as a crime, meaning that even if the perpetrators of disappearances were identified, the state has no legal authority to try and punish them. Despite this, thousands of families have gone to the commission and registered the disappearances of their loved ones, naming the alleged perpetrators and challenging the state to reveal the truth. So far, 2,800 complaints have been registered, but the commission has not fulfilled its mandate to investigate the truth. The complaints they have collected do not include personal narratives, verifiable conflict data or key demands of the surviving families. Without clear testimony or evidence, these files cannot establish patterns of violations, and they only serve to help the perpetrators evade justice.

Culture of silence

While the registration process has raised hopes for justice, it has also attracted the attention of the implicated security forces and state authorities. The security forces have directly threatened families and activists, intervened in local peace committees and influenced the commission to destroy evidence and weaken the process. When I registered my father’s disappearance with the CIEDP, there were army personnel in civilian clothes and uniformed policemen around the commission premises, creating a sense of unease and threat. The current Lalitpur police chief, Pitamber Adhikari, was providing security to the commission in Lalitpur. A United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) complaint I filed in 2010 confirmed that Adhikari was directly involved in the arrest, torture and disappearance of my father from Lamjung district headquarters in 2001.

Former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba argued in a recent speech that the state should not investigate the Nepal Army as they are ordered to maintain peace and order. Deuba himself was one of the actors who played a role in the torture, murder, disappearance, displacement and rape of thousands of innocent people during the conflict. More disturbingly, the government has been destroying evidence of conflict-era violations that still exists. After my father disappeared, I tried to ask for his case file from the authorities in Lamjung. They refused to produce the record, claiming it did not exist. The CIEDP’s poor performance permits this type of organised forgetting of the state’s role in past atrocities. This culture of silence damages the reconciliation process and chances for a sustainable future.

For justice and truth

The alleged perpetrators remain in positions of power where they are confident they will not have to face trial for their role in the abduction and disappearance of hundreds of men, women and children. Because the interests of the governmental parties are aligned to obscure the truth, we must ask what the outcome of the commission will be. What will happen to the hundreds of complaints that have been registered? The commission is required to complete a report, but will anyone in the government implement its recommendations? The denial of past crimes committed by the security forces and state parties is not only unjust, but dangerous. This deliberate ignorance is an insult to the thousands of missing and their families besides the country that claims to be governed by the rule of law. By refusing to acknowledge crimes committed during the conflict, the political parties are showing that they are not serious about dealing with the past or addressing the needs of the surviving families. It is an attempt to rewrite history by excluding those who have suffered the most.

When the families and relatives of the victims cannot trust the state to listen to their voices and respect their concerns, they may consider violence or revolt as a way to reclaim their dignity. The parties should learn from the Kailali revolt launched by the marginalised Tharu community and the Madhes riots for identity and rights. The state has a responsibility to ensure that all communities in Nepal are guaranteed justice and dignity. If these rights are denied, there is a danger of escalating violence. Remembrances and commemoration activities for past violations are important for healing and respect. These acts acknowledge the dignity of the victim by confirming that the violence they endured was a violation of their basic human rights and the laws of the state. It affirms a commitment that future generations will not face torture, arbitrary detention and murder at the hands of their government.

There are records and norms that establish the families’ right to truth and justice: Supreme Court verdicts, the UNHRC’s decisions and recommendations, and the National Human Rights Commission’s investigations and recommendations to the government. The government of Nepal must reject impunity of rights violators and honour the commitment to justice and reparations made in the 2006 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). The International Day of the Disappeared is an opportunity to shift from a culture of ignorance to a new culture of solidarity and dignity. The day is a reminder that the issue of the missing has been elevated to the global scale. Today people across the world will unite to remember the missing and demand truth and justice. The families of the disappeared in Nepal have been waiting for 10 years since the CPA for the truth about their loved ones. As we mark this day, we appeal to all the concerned agencies to speak up for the families’ right to truth and raise hopes for justice worldwide.

Bhandari is the general secretary of Conflict Victims Common Platform