Prime Minister KP Oli has sought support of political and non-political actors in safeguarding human rights in the country.

Speaking at a programme to mark the International Human Rights Day in the Capital on Thursday, the PM highlighted the role of non-state actors in promoting human rights.

“The government is committed to extend its full support to the National Human Rights Commission and other organisations in protecting and promoting human rights in the country,” said PM Oli, claiming that the rights defenders tend to exaggerate cases of rights violation from the state side. He urged the non-governmental organisations and civil society members to take equal responsibility of upholding fundamental rights of the people.

NHRC Chairperson Anup Raj Sharma echoed PM Oli. “The need of the hour is that all state actors, organisations, communities and citizens, should be committed towards human rights values and its promotion,” Sharma said, while drawing government’s attention towards the humanitarian crisis resulting

from the Tarai protest that started after the promulgation of the constitution. The shortage of fuel has affected the everyday life.

The commission has started investigating into the incidents occurred during the Madhes protest, Sharma said, urging the government to give top priority to addressing gender inequality, violence against women, torture, human trafficking, caste discrimination.

Commissioner Mohna Ansari warned that the human rights situation in Tarai districts was worsening due to the prolonged protest. She said that even the rights defenders and journalists were not secured there. “It is the state’s responsibility to safeguard the rights of citizens,” she continued, “and it cannot shy away from that in any pretext.”

The commission has concluded that the promulgation of the new constitution and formation of the transitional justice bodies are the highest achievement of the year in guaranteeing human rights and freedom.

On the occasion, the commission honoured Bidhya Laxmi Rajbhandari of Bhaktapur and Matrika Devkota of Lalitpur with this year’s Dayaram Pariyar Human Rights Memorial Award. Rajbhandari has been working for the welfare of children and women for over two decades, while Devkota is involved in fighting against social stigma of mental illness and was also honoured with prestigious Dr Guislain “Breaking the Chains of Stigma” Award in 2013. Similarly, NHRC Secretary Bed Prasad Bhattarai was honoured as the best administrative executive among the constitutional bodies.

Nepal failed to deal with humanitarian crises: AHRC

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has said that the Nepal government failed to deal with the humanitarian crises in the wake of the devastating earthquake and the violent agitation in the Tarai-Madhes region.

“With all this upheaval in Nepal in 2015, something became clear. There are no readily available, reliable institutions to deal with a humanitarian crisis or human rights violations, by protesters or police,” AHRC said in a statement on Thursday. The government “looked inept” as it tried to maintain peace and order in society, and protect the human rights of people, it read.

The Hong Kong-based rights watchdog termed Nepal’s Constitution as “Brahminical constitution promulgated by the top three Brahmin leaders” from the top three political parties.

“They mistakenly thought the average Nepali was too distracted by the earthquake; they did not realise the populace would hit the streets for their say in the new constitution,” the statement added.  

The AHRC pointed out the need for political dialogue and a written commitment leading to the early amendment of the constitution to address the concerns of the agitating parties.

“Now is a special time for Nepal as the people, to rebuild the nation and radically redesign and fundamentally transform already available institutions. Top most priority must be given to the justice institutions.”