Amendment to the transitional justice Act is a must for Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Commission for Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) to function efficiently, heads of the national rights bodies have said. National Human Rights Commission Chairman Anupa Raj Sharma on Tuesday said the government needs to amend the existing law in line with the Supreme Court order. “The recommendations made by the TRC and CIEDP should be made mandatory,” he said. Speaking at a programme organized by the Family Society of the Disappeared Fighters by the State, Sharma cited the NHRC’s experiences of poor implementation of its recommendations for action against rights violators. In its 14-year history, the government has executed only 105 of 737 recommendations related to compensation. However, no culprits were brought to justice so far. “When the government has ignored our recommendations, what is the point of monitoring the works of the two commissions?” Sharma said. As per the transitional justice law, the NHRC has been given a role to oversee the works of the TRC and CIEDP and correspond with the authorities to implement the transitional justice commissions’ recommendations. CIEDP Chairman Lokendra Mallik also emphasized on the need of formulating laws even to recommend action against rights violators. “Without related Acts, we can not even exercise our mandate,” he said. Torture and disappearances are not yet criminalized due to which the commissions will not able to recommend action against rights violators. The government formulated the transitional justice Act eight years after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement on the basis of which the two commissioners were formed to look into case of conflict period. TRC Chairman Surya Kiran Gurung briefed the progress made by his commission. He urged the government to formulate the laws in line with its commitment to international human rights and humanitarian laws. He argued that Nepal could have brought Nepal Army Col Kumar Lama back home if the country had a legal provisions to try him in a domestic court. The UK authorities arrested Col Lama on charges of extrajudicial detention and torture during the conflict period two years ago. He is being tried in the UK court. Informal Sector Service Centre (Insec) Chairman Subodh Pyakurel pointed out the need for laws for compensation, recognition, punishment, and amnesty. “We also need a special court to recommend action based on the severity of crimes,” he said. Rights defender Charan Prasai said the transitional justice process should be victim-centric. He suggested the commissioners win the confidence of the victims in the process. Civil society member Sundar Mani Dixit said the commissions should be fearless to take up the cases and investigate into violation committed by both the state and the rebel sides during the conflict era. “Victims and public are in your support,” he said. Advocate and family members of the victim, Ekraj Bhandari, said the government’s indifference could ultimately lead the victims’ relatives to take the law into their own hands. “Relatives of the victims know the culprits. They might take a desperate measure to take the law into their own hands in an act of revenge.” Conflict Victims’ Common Platform Vice-chairman Ram Bhandari said the commission should not be just an appendage of the Peace Ministry. “We have seen the fate of commissions formed immediately after people’s movement. The erstwhile rebel-led government had ignored the recommendations of the constitutional bodies and even promoted those security officials who were accused of war-era crimes,” he said. “We want a guarantee that this will not repeat with the new commissions.”