TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS

In an interaction program in NHRC held in early 2013, a Government Advocate from the Offie of the
Attorney General – Mr. Krishna Ghimire - argued that there is need a seprate act for witness
protection, and cooperation and coordianton act. He also claimed that it has been established in
jurispurundence that no decisions of the courts shall be influenced by whether or not the case
become hostile or absent of the witness.
6.4 Judicial Responses of Trafficking
The Share of Trafficking Cases – Table 6.1 shows the number of trafficking cases registered in
Supreme Court, Appellate Courts and District Courts of Nepal in FY 2013/14 vis-à-vis the total
number of cases in the courts. A total of 1,007 trafficking cases were registered in the courts –
accounting for less than one percent of the total cases in the courts of Nepal (Table 6.1).
Table 6.1 Share of trafficking persons cases to the total cases in the courts of Nepal, FY 2013/14
Courts
Total cases in the
courts
Number of cases of trafficking in
persons
% share of cases of
trafficking in persons
Supreme Court 20,353 215 1.1
Appellate Courts 28,997 206 0.7
District Courts 109,349 586 0.5
Total 158,699 1,007 0.6
Source: MoWCSW, 2072 (2015) Yatra Bulletin Fourth Number.
The Supreme Court – In FY 2012/13, the Supreme Court of Nepal has ordered the GoN to revise the
Human Trafficking and Transportation (Control) Act 2007, particularly in the following areas:
• Amend the Section 15 (6) and make a law that if a person who gives the statement in the
court at the beginning changes the statement latter or if a person is not cooperating with
the court, such person shall be imprisoned.
• Make compulsory arrangement to provide the information to the victims about the details
of Police investigation or prosecution.
• Establish the Compensation Fund for the victims who are granted compensation under the
Section 17 and allocate budget compulsory from the FY 2013/14 and provide the
compensation to the victims immediately after the decision of the courts through the
concerned Police Offices.
• Make compulsory budget arrangement for the expenditure required to appear in the court
to the witnesses of the Government cases and provide such money through the concerned
Police Offices.
• Pay the expenditure incurred for attending the court to a witness of the Government cases
before the witness attending in the court.
• Arrange the security to the victims and informats as per Section 26 of the Act through the
concerned Police Offices.
• On July 31, 2013, the Supreme Court issued the order to the MoHA, OAG and Registrar of
the Supreme Court for the arrangement of continious hearing of the serious nature of the
crimes such as trafficking and rape.
Table 6.2 shows the levels and trends of trafficking crime cases registered and disposed by the
Supreme Court of Nepal from FY 2009/10 to FY 2013/14. A 5-year average number of the trafficking
cases registered in the Supreme Court come out to be 77 and the 5-year average number of
trafficking cases decided by the Court is 15. The convention rate ranges from 20 percent in the FY
2010/11 to 57 percent in the FY 2011/12 and the five-year average conviction rate comes out to be
33 percent only. On the other hand, the pending rates are very high in each Fiscal year, especially
after FY 2011/12.
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