KAMAL RAJ SIGDEL
KATHMANDU, JAN 04 -
The government has decided to send an 11-member team led by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala to defend its report on the country’s human rights situation. The defence will be presented in the upcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Nepal at the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva.
On Jan. 25, Nepal’s human rights records will come under the first ever UN scrutiny at the UPR, a mechanism created by the General Assembly in 2006 to ensure that the 192 UN member states respect rights. The mechanism reviews each member every four years and its review report as well as its follow-up have implications for the respective country’s prospects of receiving international aid, among others.
The UN review in Geneva is expected to have a wider significance for Nepal given the widespread concern over the government’s failure to address human rights issues as it is transits to peace after a bloody internal war.
Nepal’s team to the UPR scheduled to leave on Jan. 21 includes Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Trilochan Upreti, Foreign Secretary Madan Kumar Bhattarai, Joint Secretary Dilli Raj Ghimire, representatives of the Ministries of Health, Peace and Reconstruction and Law and Justice, according to a PMO source.
Nepal will have an hour’s time to present its report to the UPR followed by shadow reports from the civil society groups in the next two hours. The government has already sent its 24-page “national report” to the UPR. While the government report is mainly focused on highlighting its achievements made so far in the human rights front, the civil society reports, in general, paint a beak picture of human rights in the country with impunity on the rise.
OHCHR Nepal, National Human Rights Commission, National Dalit Commission, National Women Commission, INSEC, Advocacy Forum and other international defenders have submitted joint and separate reports to the UPR expressing serious concern over worsening the rights situation in Nepal.
State report highlights achievements
l Statute draft recognizes 21 fundamental rights
l Adoption of National Human Rights Action Plan
l Active NHRC with diverse and inclusive board
l Separate National Dalit Commission (NDC)
l Separate National Women’s Commission (NWC)
l Relief to families of 14,064 who died during conflict
l Human Rights Directorate at Nepal Army
l A bill to criminalize torture in the offing
l 21,639 ex-bonded families rehabilitated
l Gender friendly budget (17.3 percent to gender)
Civil society report paints beak picture
l Crimes under international law not criminalised
l Constituent Assembly has failed work in time
l New draft legislation weakens NHRC
l Govt dumped recommendations of NHRC, NWC, NDC
l Widespread discrimination based on race, gender, ethnicity
l Sexual and gender minorities highly discriminated
l State fails to recognise Muslims as a religious minority
l Unwilling to prosecute past human rights abuses
l Systematic practice of torture
l Ill treatment to refugees, rights unprotected
Posted on: 2011-01-05 08:17
http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2011/01/04/metro/nepal-braces-for-rights-scrutiny/216843/
The government has decided to send an 11-member team led by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala to defend its report on the country’s human rights situation. The defence will be presented in the upcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Nepal at the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva.
On Jan. 25, Nepal’s human rights records will come under the first ever UN scrutiny at the UPR, a mechanism created by the General Assembly in 2006 to ensure that the 192 UN member states respect rights. The mechanism reviews each member every four years and its review report as well as its follow-up have implications for the respective country’s prospects of receiving international aid, among others.
The UN review in Geneva is expected to have a wider significance for Nepal given the widespread concern over the government’s failure to address human rights issues as it is transits to peace after a bloody internal war.
Nepal’s team to the UPR scheduled to leave on Jan. 21 includes Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Trilochan Upreti, Foreign Secretary Madan Kumar Bhattarai, Joint Secretary Dilli Raj Ghimire, representatives of the Ministries of Health, Peace and Reconstruction and Law and Justice, according to a PMO source.
Nepal will have an hour’s time to present its report to the UPR followed by shadow reports from the civil society groups in the next two hours. The government has already sent its 24-page “national report” to the UPR. While the government report is mainly focused on highlighting its achievements made so far in the human rights front, the civil society reports, in general, paint a beak picture of human rights in the country with impunity on the rise.
OHCHR Nepal, National Human Rights Commission, National Dalit Commission, National Women Commission, INSEC, Advocacy Forum and other international defenders have submitted joint and separate reports to the UPR expressing serious concern over worsening the rights situation in Nepal.
State report highlights achievements
l Statute draft recognizes 21 fundamental rights
l Adoption of National Human Rights Action Plan
l Active NHRC with diverse and inclusive board
l Separate National Dalit Commission (NDC)
l Separate National Women’s Commission (NWC)
l Relief to families of 14,064 who died during conflict
l Human Rights Directorate at Nepal Army
l A bill to criminalize torture in the offing
l 21,639 ex-bonded families rehabilitated
l Gender friendly budget (17.3 percent to gender)
Civil society report paints beak picture
l Crimes under international law not criminalised
l Constituent Assembly has failed work in time
l New draft legislation weakens NHRC
l Govt dumped recommendations of NHRC, NWC, NDC
l Widespread discrimination based on race, gender, ethnicity
l Sexual and gender minorities highly discriminated
l State fails to recognise Muslims as a religious minority
l Unwilling to prosecute past human rights abuses
l Systematic practice of torture
l Ill treatment to refugees, rights unprotected
Posted on: 2011-01-05 08:17
http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2011/01/04/metro/nepal-braces-for-rights-scrutiny/216843/
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