On 24 December 2020, Advocacy Forum-Nepal organized a discussion meeting on the Transitional Justice (TJ) at Hotel Namaste, Attariya, Kailali District. The program focused on the discussion of the report “No Law, No Justice, No State for Victims- The Culture of Impunity in Post-Conflict Nepal” jointly published by AF-Nepal and Human Rights Watch. The program was attended by victims and members of civil societies from Kailali and Kanchanpur. Altogether, 34 participants-22 female and 12 male attended the program.

On 18 December 2020, AF organized an evaluation meeting on "16 Days Campaign against Gender Based Violence" in Ramechhap district. In the meeting 25 participants including representatives of District Bar Association, Aadibasi Janajati Mahasangh, journalists, women human rights defenders, Manthali Municipality, Manthali Municipality's campaigners of 16 days campaign against gender based violence, lawyers, NGO Federation, conflict victims etc. were present. Every year many organizations, government units and civil society organize campaigns and programs against the gender based violence but there is no evaluation of effectiveness and results of such campaigns and programs. So, AF organized an interaction program to discuss on successful campaigns, challenges and how to move forward in the days to come.

On 21 December 2020, Advocacy Forum Nepal visited Child Correction Home (CCH), Bhaktapur and handed over sports materials worth fifty thousand rupees to the management committee of the Correction Home. Handing over the sports materials, Om Prakash Sen Thakuri, Director of AF said that the main objective of distributing sports materials to the children kept in Correction Home is stengthen their psycial and metal well being. As the children are kept away from their parents and parents can’t visit them due to COVID-19, there are chances of mental harms like feeling loneliness, anxiety, feeling of exclusion, fear of COVID-19, detachment etc. on them. So, sports can make them engaged, active and keep them physically fit and mentally alert.

Kathmandu, 13 December 2020: On 12 December 2020, Advocacy Forum-Nepal (AF) organized a consultation meeting on "Transitional Justice and Existing Impunity: Way Forward” at Indreni Foodland, Baneshwor, Kathmandu. The program was attended by more than 40 participants including conflict victims and civil society members. Some of the participants joined the program through virtual media-Zoom. 

On 19 December 2020, Advocacy Forum-Nepal conducted a refresher meeting with 13 family members of enforced disappearance victims in Nepalunj, Banke disitrict. This meeting was a refresher and evaluation meeting of the trainings organized in 2019 and 2020 on “Psychosocial Accompaniment, Case Documentation and Submission." The objectives of these two trainings were to empower family members of disappearance victims in facilitation of program/seminars/trainings, how to recognize the mental status of victims and need of psychosocial accompaniment, how to provide psychosocial accompaniment, how to document cases of human rithts violations, show to manage tress, how to take self care etc. 

(New York/Kathmandu, November 20, 2020) – The authorities in Nepal are preventing police and prosecutors from pursuing conflict-era cases of human rights violations, undermining the rule of law and efforts for security sector reform, Human Rights Watch and Advocacy Forum said in a report released today. During the 10-year armed conflict between government forces and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) that ended in 2006, thousands of people were forcibly disappeared, tortured, raped, or killed.

7 October 2020, Morang/Biratnagar: Amid the adverse situation of COVID-19 pandemic, on 7 October 2020, Advocacy Forum- Nepal organized a community level Transitional Justice (TJ) meeting in Pathari-Sanischare Municipality. A total of 25 conflict victims from Morang District participated in the program. The program discussed on present development of TJ or lack thereof, situation and concerns of conflict victims, roles and responsibility of the Local Government and existing hardship being faced by the conflict victims, because of the pandemic. Advocate Rukmina Dahal from AF- Nepal had facilitated the program together with the victims’ local leadership.

On 6 October 2020, Advocacy Forum- Nepal organized a community level meeting on the Transitional Justice (TJ) with conflict victims in Baglung District. In the program, the latest development on the situation of TJ was discussed along with the hardships that the conflict victims have undergone at present due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The victims shared their plight of being sidelined and completely ignored by the Government, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking in the program, Hari Subedi, one of the participants from the victims’ group informed that they have approached the local Government for assistance but they have not received any assistance so far. Saraswati BK stated, “Who will search for our loved ones, if we die”.

Advocacy Forum- Nepal organized a community level meeting on Transitional Justice (TJ) in Bhurigau, Bardiya District on 3 October 2020. The program held a discussion on the existing situation of TJ in Nepal and the roles and responsibilities of the Local Government. Speaking in the program, Devisara Oli, one of the participants from the victims’ group stressed that the Local Government should firstly collect the exact number of conflict victims and then should introduce income-generating trainings and reparations programs as per the need and demands of the victims. She further stressed that the Government should provide social security fund to the wives of those whose husbands were subjected to enforced disappearance or killed. A torture survivor, Maya Ram Khadka stated that the Federal, Provincial and Local Governments have not paid much attention to the demands and concerns of the victims.

As the COVID-19 cases, along with skin related problems increased among the children at Jayandu Child Correction Home in Asamanpur, Duduwa-6, Banke, on 23 September 2020, Advocacy Forum- Nepal, Nepalgunj handed over medical and daily use goods worth NPR 115,000 to the Correction Home. The goods included medical masks, sanitizers, Dettol soaps along with other important medical goods such as hot and cold water dispensers, bed sheets, towels, pillow covers, water bottles, water pipes, water jar and carom board for entertainment. Representatives of District Administrative Office, Banke, Deputy Chief District Officer Dirgha Raj Upadhyaya, In-charge of the Child Correction Home Bimala Kaucha Magar, Jay Kesh Singh who donated the land to the Correction Home, Medical Supplier Association’s Chief Secretary Jivan Sharma, Warden Malakhey Singh, Police Head Constable Suresh Bahadur Shahi were present in the program.