There are many ways people get to the truth about human rights violations. On the International Day for the Right to the Truth, we celebrate those who seek it.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Kendra Van Leuwen - Canada • Rafael Espino - Spain • Ada Melgar - Guatemala
Fikret Bacic - Bosnia and Herzegovina • Hela Boujnah - Tunisia • Salah Abdi Sheikh - Kenya
Luz Marina Monzón - Colombia • Ivan Seixas - Brazil • Gegë Efendija - Kosovo
Michael Finucane - Northern Ireland • Ram Bhandari - Nepal • Op-Ed: Truth and Dignity for All, Even Our Enemies
Truth commissions, criminal prosecutions, exhumations, coroner’s inquests, reparations, and compensation procedures can all contribute to exposing the practices and effects of serial violations of human rights. A significant role is also played by cases before regional and international human rights bodies (like the Inter-American Court of Human Rights), and exposure of corrupt institutions. A thorough examination of institutional archives can expose the twisted mindset, and practices, of those who directed state security forces or government agencies.
Different people need different things. Some people need to know the bare facts, to be told that their disappeared father was indeed murdered, for example. Memorials can frame truth in a way that society can see and touch, and cannot ignore. Truth can bring closure, however painful.
But truth is incomplete without acknowledgment. It is the recognition of harm, the recognition of past disregard for the dignity of others that can help to make amends, restore civic trust, and move societies towards a rights-respecting future.
We invited people from across the globe to tell us what the truth they need is and what is the path they are taking to see their right to the truth fulfilled. These are their stories. If you have your own to share, we invite you to join the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #iStand4Truth