A discussion was held between the Head of Regional Delegation of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) in New Delhi; Mr. Kedir Awol Omar and the Officials of the Secretariat of the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappearance Person, Nepal (CIEDP) on 07/29/2022.The Secretary of the Commission Mr. Shyam Kumar Bhattarai, Joint Secretary Mr. Krishna Prasad Pudasaini, Joint Secretary Mrs. Roshni Kumari Shrestha and Section Officer Mr. Mahendra Prasad Adhikari; and Head of ICRC Nepal Mr. Sandesh Shrestha and Head of Conservation Department of ICRC Nepal Mr. Mira Rana were participated in the discussion program.
The Commission’s activities till date, the provisions of the amendment bill of the Commission’s Act submitted to the Parliament were discussed in the discussion. During that time, a discussion took place about the areas of continuous cooperation and coordination with the ICRC including technical assistance in matters such as exhumation of bodies to be done in connection with the investigation as well as capacity building of the human resources involved in the investigation; study and field observations regarding various practices related to transitional justice. Also, it was discussed that all parties should be active in arranging the study of transitional justice as a special subject in the higher studies of law and about the further initiations of the ICRC in that matter was also discussed. During that time, there was also a discussion about the suggestions included in the Fifth Interim Report of the Commission submitted to the Honorable Prime Minister. In that discussion, the Head of Regional Delegation of the ICRC, Mr. Kedir Awol Omar had said that he was in Nepal for some time during the past armed conflict, and is knowledgeable about various aspects of Nepal’s armed conflict, peace process and transitional justice. He had also expressed the commitment of the ICRC to support the Commission as much as possible and to continue the cooperation in order to conclude the investigation process of the disappeared persons. The Secretary of the Commission had thanked the ICRC for its assistance in the functioning of the Commission.