Rights groups ask Nepal to scrap amnesty bill
KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — International rights groups said Thursday that parts of a bill proposed by the Nepal government should be rejected because it could provide amnesty to people who committed serious human rights violations during the country's Maoist insurgency.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the International Commission of Jurists said in a statement that provisions in the proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission bill contain provisions for an amnesty that violate international law.
The proposed bill would set up commissions to investigate crimes during the 1996-2006 communist insurgency, when more than 13,000 people were killed, and punish the violators.
The groups say the language in the proposed bill is too vague.
The ex-rebels who are now a major political party fear they could be prosecuted for their activities during the years of fighting.
