KATHMANDU, Jan 24: Marking the Holocaust Memorial Day, Diplomatic community in Nepal, together with several Nepali human rights defenders, on Tuesday demanded a credible transitional justice process in Nepal to address conflict-era human rights violations.
The three-day event to commemorate the victims of Holocaust started off Tuesday in Kathmandu amid a function jointly organized by the United Nations, European Union, Germany and Israel.
Way forward for transitional justice
As the chief guest of the function, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairman Anup Raj Sharma said Holocaust Memorial Day would remind mankind of its obligation to face its past, adding that the Holocaust was an incomparably deep tragedy.
In a symbolic gesture, German Ambassador to Nepal Roland Schaefer, who was the host of the event, stood together with Israeli Ambassador to Nepal Benny Omer, and said that the Holocaust Memorial Day was the day on which the Germans confronted their 'historic shame' every year.
Referring to the decade-long Maoist conflict, Ambassador Schaefer said Nepal has its victims - so many have to cope with their loss, their sorrow, the pain, and the anger. “We think of them and we relate to them, not just because of their individual fate, but also because today, we remember how immensely humanity in its entirety can suffer, if the claims for truth, justice and reconciliation do not find adequate responses,” he said, while stressing the need for a credible transitional justice process.
The international community, particularly the western democracies and UN, are said to be unhappy with the workings of the two current commissions on transitional justice.
Ambassadors of the EU countries and the UN and representatives of India and China were among those present on the occasion.
A UN Resolution in 2005 decided January 27 each year to be marked as Holocaust Memorial Day. It is considered a day to remember the millions of people who were murdered or whose lives have been changed beyond recognition during the Holocaust, Nazi Persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur and elsewhere.
