BACKGROUND 

A decade-long armed conflict between government forces and Maoist rebels in Nepal saw serious violations and abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law – including unlawful killing, torture, enforced disappearance, sexual violence and long-term arbitrary arrests; hundreds of thousands of civilians were also internally displaced. By signing the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) on 21 November 2006, the Government of Nepal and the Maoist party committed to establishing the truth about the conduct of the war and to ensuring that the victims of the conflict receive both justice and reparation

Nepal is not a signatory to the Rome Statute and has not ratified either of the Kampala Amendments. While Nepal has not signed the Agreement on Privileges and Immunity (APIC), it has signed a bilateral immunity agreement (BIA) with the USA in December 2002, that entered into force on July 22, 2003. Although there are no legal and constitutional barriers to ratification of the Rome Statute, there have been no known efforts underway in favour of complementarity and cooperation legislation in Nepal owing to decade long political turmoil over consensus on the provisions of the new constitution.

CAMPAIGN FOR GLOBAL JUSTICE 

In June 2006, the Nepalese Parliament unanimously issued a “commitment resolution” (Sankalpa) directing the government to ratify the Rome Statute, and positive endorsements for ICC ratification have been made by Nepalese government ministries.During CICC’s mission to the country in 2006 and 2007, the government reiterated its support for the accession process. Amnesty International’s mission to Nepal in 2009 was assured of the government’s commitment to ratification. During the 1st cycle of the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2011, the Government of Nepal included the ratification of the Rome Statute in its Action Plan on Implementation of UPR Recommendations. Despite its continuos affirmation to the ICC, there has been no movement on these commitments.