For many years, PN has been keeping an eye on the Nepali peace process, which has progressed in fits and starts since the Nepali civil war came to an end in 2006.
In early February, Nepal held elections for its new upper chamber under its new federal constitution. The alliance between the Maoist Centre party and the United Marxist-Leninists (UML) swept the board, taking 40 of the 56 seats. In elections in November and December, the leftist alliance took 174 out of 275 seats in the lower house of representatives.
It remains to be seen whether the two communist parties can really form a unified government.
Meanwhile, after three years of existence, neither the truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) nor the commission of investigation on enforced disappeared persons (CIEDP) has settled a single case of human rights violations from the civil war.
In those three years, the TRC has begun investigating just over 800 of the 60,000 complaints it has received from victims. The CIEDP has started looking into just over 200 out of 3,000 complaints. Both the Maoists and the UML have shown their determination to stop any real accountability for war crimes. They continue to support giving the TRC and CIEDP commissions the power to give amnesties for serious human rights violations, despite a 2014 ruling by the supreme court that this is unconstitutional.
Topics: Nepal