Ram Kumar Bhandari has led the struggle to secure justice for victims of Nepal’s conflict for over a decade. His involvement with the victims’ movement began when his own father was disappeared in 2001. He has helped to launch the National network of families of the disappeared (NEFAD), the Committee for Social Justice, the National Victims Alliance, and more recently the Conflict Victims Common Platform and the Hateymalo widows’ groups.

What is the truth that you are after and why?

Truth-seeking is important for all victims of human rights violations. It is a daily struggle to live with the cultural, social, and economic challenges that result from such violations, especially with no clear path towards knowing the truth about those abuses.

Since my father’s disappearance 14 years ago, I have experienced isolation from the state process, continuous denial by the authorities, and dishonor in everyday life. I want closure of my father’s case, and I want to know the full truth: exactly how it happened, and the names of the perpetrators.

My fight for truth-seeking has significant meaning in my individual, family and social life in my cultural tradition. I and hundreds of other families of the disappeared in Nepal do not know what happened to our relatives: what caused the incident of their disappearance? What happened after the arrest? Where are the disappeared now? Where are their bodies? We want to locate the gravesites, exhume and return the physical remains to their loved-ones. There is no official record or evidence of these disappearances, no collective memory or formal recognition.

The first priority is to know the truth. The loss of thousands of innocent lives should be recognized by the Government of Nepal by establishing the facts. Over the past few years, I myself have tried to uncover this truth through different approaches: I submitted an application to the Human Rights Commission, filed a writ petition, registered a First Information Report (FIR) and appealed for thorough investigation, but I received no answers. Similarly, many families have also filed cases in the court or registered a FIR, individually and collectively demanding for investigations. All of their approaches were to know the truth, to find closure. Nepal has not recognized families’ right to know the truth.

How will such truth benefit you and your society?

To know the truth is a priority. In particular, truth as a form of acknowledgement is important for victims, as is the idea of truth as a form of justice. This is important for families of the disappeared in Nepal, particularly because of our cultural practices that involve final rites, and the closure of a life. Every individual family and victim has a right to the truth. Similarly, society as a whole has a right to know the truth surrounding the events of the armed conflict. Such truth will help promote social cohesion and local reconciliation. In a very connected and close traditional society like ours, whole social units suffered during the conflict, and continue to suffer in the absence of knowing the truth about the disappeared. Because of this, whole sectors of society will benefit from knowing the truth, and to learn from past abuses.

Has your right to the truth been satisfied? And if not, what truth-seeking efforts you think are needed in your country?

As a surviving family member of the disappeared, my right to the truth has not been satisfied: I need to know the facts about the disappearance of my father and to receive his remains. The truth concerning his disappearance and the disappearance of more than 1,400 other individuals must be acknowledged publicly and accepted by the state to allow for national healing and progress to be made.

Nepal needs both informal and formal truth-telling mechanisms to establish truth that helps people to heal, and promote sustainable community lives as citizens, not victims: Collecting testimonies and conflict narratives, documentary film and oral history archiving, construction of local memory as building memory places such as gates, pillars, resting places, memorials, parks, museums, and more can recognize historical truth and be part of the justice process. Proper documentation—not only as evidence for legal cases, but to document causes of conflict, social, economic, political and cultural violations—helps to understand historic truth and give a lesson for non-repetition that helps create a socially-accepted environment as basis for a sustained reconciliation and peace in communities.