The Foreign Ministry, on February 29, 2012, provided most of the information the freedom1 Forum sought about the government activities carried out for the ratification process of the Rome Statute. The Ministry provided a complete 20-page copy of the information on a report submitted to the then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs on December 14, 2006 by a study team formed by the government as per the directive of the House of Representatives on October 18, 2006 to ratify the ICC Statute. Similarly, it informed freedom1 Forum that it proposed the Council of Ministers to become party state to the Rome Statute on February 5, 2009. But, regarding the third question as when Nepal government was tabling proposal on endorsement of the Rome Statute in the Legislature-Parliament/House of Representatives, the Foreign Ministry said as the process of becoming party state to the Rome Statute was not complete, it could not guess when the government would table the proposal for endorsement. However, it took long time for freedom1 Forum to get the information. First, the Ministry unheeded the information seeking, so freedom1 Forum moved to the Ministry Secretary on January 16, 2012 as per the RTI rule. Yet again, the Ministry denied information and wrote it to freedom1 Forum on January 23, 2012, reasoning the classification of information which directed the Ministry to protect information. Untiringly, the freedom1 Forum moved to the National Information Commission on February 6, 2012. The Commission directive on February 12 finally forced the Ministry to provide information to the freedom1 Forum in accordance with the RTI Act. Earlier on December 26, 2011, the freedom1 Forum had filed an application in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs seeking information about the government efforts made in the process of ratification of the statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). In line with the Right to Information Act, freedom1 Forum Chairperson Taranath Dahal, for the study, filed the application in the Ministry seeking the photocopy of a report submitted to the then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs on December 14, 2006 by a study team formed by the government as per the directive of the House of Representatives on October 18, 2006 to ratify the ICC statute which is also known as the Rome Statute. Also sought along with this were the information and details about the activities the government was carrying out for the endorsement of the Rome Statute like when the government was presenting proposal in the Legislature-Parliament for the endorsement. The registration number of the application was 1766.
Freedom Forum is a prominent non-governmental organization in Nepal dedicated to institutionalizing democracy, protecting and promoting human rights, press freedom, freedom of expression, right to information, promoting audit accountability, open and accountable budget, public finance reforms, citizen engagement in public finance management and citizen participation in audit. Established in February 2005, the organization emerged in response to the political turmoil following Former King Gyanendra’s coup dated February 1, 2005, which imposed severe restrictions on media and democratic rights. A group of media professionals, legal experts, and academics founded Freedom Forum to safeguard Nepal’s hard-earned democratic freedoms during this repressive period.
