Kathmandu, June 12: Nepal’s Supreme Court has directed the government to amend existing laws and classify the recruitment and use of child soldiers as a criminal offence and a serious human rights violation.
The ruling came in response to a petition filed by former child soldier Lenin Bista and others, who sought accountability for the use of children during the decade-long Maoist insurgency and demanded proper rehabilitation for victims.
A full bench of the court held that recruiting or using anyone aged 18 or below in the armed forces or groups must be explicitly prohibited and punished by law. The court found that the latest amendment to Nepal’s transitional justice law failed to include child soldier recruitment within the definition of “serious human rights violations”.
The order requires the government to amend the law governing the country’s two transitional justice bodies, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons, and present the changes to Parliament.
The court based its decision on Nepal’s international obligations, including the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2006, under which both the government and Maoists pledged not to recruit or use children in armed conflict and committed to rescuing and rehabilitating affected minors.
Citing international conventions on children’s rights, the court said victims need more than financial compensation. It noted that many former child soldiers continue to suffer from lost educational opportunities, psychological trauma, health problems, social stigma and damaged reputations.
“The state has a legal duty to reintegrate those separated from society by conflict. This is not an act of charity,” the court said, ordering immediate and adequate reparations and rehabilitation measures for victims, including Bista.
The bench also questioned why Nepal, despite ratifying international protocols banning child recruitment 24 years ago, has yet to criminalise the practice. As a result, victims currently lack access to criminal prosecution as a form of justice, the court observed.
Following the peace process, nearly 2,973 Maoist combatants were classified as minors or otherwise ineligible for army integration. The court instructed authorities to stop using labels such as “disqualified” or “discharged” in official documents, calling them stigmatising and degrading.
Bista had also sought action against former Maoist leaders Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Baburam Bhattarai over alleged wartime use of child soldiers. However, the court declined to rule on individual criminal liability, saying such questions should be addressed through Nepal’s transitional justice mechanisms and their recommendations.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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