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Advocacy Forum (AF)

Kathmandu, Nepal
Joined November 2016
Presence in: Nepal

Advocacy Forum (AF) works to promote fair trials, prevention of torture, and access to justice for poor and marginalized people in Nepal. It works with a team of 100+ lawyers and human rights defenders that visit 57 police detention centres in Nepal, documenting the stories of detainees, how they are treated in detention and how their rights are observed. Lawyers also offer free legal assistance to those who can afford lawyers to defend themselves.

International laws are also used to combat impunity in relations to the crimes of human rights violations and to empower victims to access avenues for justice at international level. This work also helps to put pressure at the national level for reform. AF is now representing the victims of torture, disappearances and sexual violence before the UN Human Rights Committee of the UN. It has been successful to lay down certain presidents already in number of cases.

This work has given a shock wave to the country’s perpetrators who long thought they were above the law and continue to enjoy impunity. It has also boosted the moral of human rights activists and raised the hope for justice among the victims of human rights violations. AF has prepared a ground for truth and reconciliation commission and enactment of certain laws to criminalise human rights violations.