Political parties Should Commit to Accountability; Completing Transitional Justice
(London, February 13, 2026): Nepal’s interim government led by Prime Minister Sushila Karki should release the Commission of Inquiry report into deadly violence during “Gen Z” protests of September 2025, as well as all the previous judge-led inquiry reports on human rights violations and abuses which were not published by previous governments, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists said today. All of the political parties participating on March 5, 2026, parliamentary election should commit to end impunity for rights abuses and corruption by upholding the rule of law, including by successfully completing the transitional justice process.
At least 76 people were killed, most unlawfully, during the September 8-9 protests after police opened fire on young protesters demonstrating against government corruption and a social media ban. On the second day of the protests, there were killings by both the security forces and protestors as well as widespread burning of public and private buildings. On September 9 the then prime minister K.P. Oli resigned. Sushila Karki, a former chief justice, was appointed interim prime minister on September 12 with the mandate to conduct elections, and established a commission to investigate violations committed during September 8-9.
“Successive Nepali government have buried a series of reports with recommendations that could have led to justice and reform, and ignored the findings,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
“The Karki government has a unique opportunity to start dismantling the culture of impunity, by publishing all the reports documenting violations against protesters and those taking part in people’s movements.”
Since Nepal’s current democratic era began in 1990, several inquiry commissions have been appointed following serious violations and abuses. But none have published their findings, contributing to a culture of impunity that has fueled repeated human rights violations and widespread official corruption, the organizations said.
After the 1990 people’s movement, the incoming democratic government buried the findings of the Malik Commission, which had been established to investigate lethal violence against protesters. In 2006, a second people’s movement ended a brief period of direct royal rule, but the Rayamajhi Commission report into violence against protesters, including the reported killings of at least 19 people, was buried once again..
In 2015, after about 45 people were killed in protests against a new constitution, the Lal Commission was established to investigate the incidents – but its report remains unpublished despite repeated promises to make it public. There have been numerous other unpublished official reports on rights violations since 1990.
Following the killings during the Gen Z movement in September, a commission chaired by former justice Gauri Bahadur Karki (who is not related to the interim prime minister) was formed to investigate, but on February 9 its deadline was extended beyond election day, for fear that its findings could be opposed by security forces or political actors and cause “friction” in the election environment.
In October, Prime Minister Karki said that the “Gen Z” movement that brought her to office “reflects people’s profound aspiration for good governance, economic opportunity and integrity in public life.” The protests arose in large part from the frustrations of young people over economic stagnation resulting from misgovernance and endemic political corruption.
“One of the reasons Nepal has been trapped in cycles of governance marked by weak accountability, and human rights violations, is that impunity has been hard-wired into elite politics, but Prime Minister Karki can take an historic step to reverse that trend by releasing all the reports,” said Isabelle Lassée, deputy regional director for South Asia at Amnesty International.
“One of the greatest areas of ongoing impunity concerns abuses and violations committed during the 1996-2006 insurgency, and to address those, all parties standing in the election should commit to advancing the transitional justice process in line with international standards, including by addressing the concerns of victims around the accountability gaps in the law as well as political instrumentalization of the process.”
The internal armed conflict between Maoist rebels and security forces cost more than 20,000 lives, amid widespread abuses and violations by both sides. The 2006 Comprehensive Peace Agreement included a commitment to transitional justice, to hold perpetrators accountable, provide reparations, and reveal what happened to victims of enforced disappearance. However, justice has been repeatedly stalled by political interference that sought to shield those who may be responsible for crimes from accountability.
In 2024, Nepal’s parliament amended the law on transitional justice to remove some provisions that could have granted amnesty to people responsible for serious crimes under international law. Although some problems in the legislation remained, the amendments were accepted by some victims and survivors’ groups as a viable basis to move forward.
However, in 2025 many victims’ representatives rejected appointments to the two transitional justice bodies as being flawed, unqualified and lacking political independence. Little progress has been made since then, and the process once again appears deadlocked.
Victims and survivors of crimes committed during Nepal’s internal armed conflict are still awaiting justice and reparations. Impunity for these crimes has cast a long shadow over post-conflict Nepal. The repeated shielding of those suspected to be responsible by successive governments needs to end, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists said.
“To break the cycle of impunity and help build a future based on the rule of law, the interim government should publish all of the reports by official commissions into past human rights violations before it leaves office,” said Mandira Sharma, Asia and Pacific Regional Director at the International Commission of Jurists.
“All parties that aspire to lead Nepal after the election should publicly commit to fearlessly pursuing justice for corruption and human rights violations and abuses, including by successfully completing the transitional justice process taking victims and civil society’s voices into consideration.”
Contact
Meenakshi Ganguly, Human Rights Watch, e: gangulm@hrw.org
Isabelle Lassee, Amnesty International, e: isabelle.lassee@amnesty.org
Mandira Sharma, International Commission of Jurists, e: mandira.sharma@icj.org
Download
The press release can be downloaded here.
