By Dev Kumar Sunuwar

On August 9, 2019, Indigenous Peoples observed the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples with gusto and fanfare around the globe. Meanwhile in Nepal, putting a halt to a 24-year-long practice of ceremonial traditions of celebrating the day, Indigenous people this year observed in the streets as part of their ongoing protest against the government’s move to slash civil service reservation quotas legally preserved for marginalized communities.

By Dev Kumar Sunuwar 

On June 26, 2019, after over a month of continuous and massive movements by Indigenous Peoples, especially by Newar Peoples in Kathmandu Valley, the Nepalese government finally was forced to withdraw the Guthi Bill. This Bill would have permitted the regulation of customary land trusts in the National Assembly, the supreme legislative body of Nepal.

By Dev Kumar Sunuwar

By Dev Kumar Sunuwar

At one time media in Nepal were criticized for ignoring the voices, participation and access of Indigenous Peoples.  The Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (ACORAB)—an umbrella organization of community radio stations in Nepal, AMARC-Asia Pacific, UNESCO and UNDP Nepal recently jointly organized a national consultation on the state of Indigenous broadcasting to best address the concerns of Indigenous peoples in community radio.

On June 3-5, 2019, in Kathmandu, Nepal, in order to help Indigenous community radio stationed working at the grassroots level to sort out technical problems occurring in radio systems, the Indigenous Community Radio Network (ICRN) a partner organization of Cultural Survival conducted a three-day workshop on basic skills on maintenance and repairing radio equipment for technicians.

In May 2018, at the the 95th Session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), Nepal’s human rights record was reviewed under the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.