‘Nepal must scrap 35-day limit on reporting rapes’
25 Sept 2014 4:12 AM IST
Nepal must scrap a 35-day time limit for reporting rapes that prevents survivors from seeking justice, the Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday in a report on wartime sexual violence in the Himalayan nation.Both sides in Nepal’s 1996-2006 civil war between Maoist guerrillas and the state were accused of serious human rights violations including rape, but no one has yet been prosecuted.
The report is based on the testimonies of more than 50 women, some of whom were just schoolgirls when they were attacked. It calls for the government to revise its 35-day time limit and to provide reparations to survivors. ‘For more than 10 years already, these women have suffered in silence and fear while the perpetrators have walked free,’ said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. Nepal is in the process of setting up two commissions to investigate wartime crimes and heal wounds from the conflict.
The report is based on the testimonies of more than 50 women, some of whom were just schoolgirls when they were attacked. It calls for the government to revise its 35-day time limit and to provide reparations to survivors. ‘For more than 10 years already, these women have suffered in silence and fear while the perpetrators have walked free,’ said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. Nepal is in the process of setting up two commissions to investigate wartime crimes and heal wounds from the conflict.
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