Kathmandu, April 1 -- The Supreme Court of Nepal has directed the government to formulate clear laws, policies and programmes on reparations for victims of state atrocities, in line with international legal standards and the United Nations Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation.

Passing verdicts in two different writ petitions from the Maoist insurgency-era victims and human rights activists, a division bench of justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Hari Phuyal also scrapped discriminatory provisions in different laws relating to compensation and relief to the victims. The division bench has identified several problematic provisions across different legal provisions and directed the authorities concerned to m...