By Alex Glomset
Nepal came before the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights on November 20,2014 to present its third periodic report on how it has implemented the Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. Nepal is no stranger to minority and Indigenous rights issues, having a history of conflict with the Dalit community amongst others. Nepal has striven to uphold the rights of Indigenous communities as stated by the covenant, by not only implementation of the ICESCR, but also having the National Planning Commission acknowledge the Indigenous rights issues and the necessity of change.
The questions pertaining to Indigenous rights issues were of a similar nature, more so focused on the problems relating to acknowledging Indigenous groups and aspects of their culture rather than any legislation that is discriminatory towards the Indigenous groups. One committee member asked what efforts had been made by the government to support and promote education in Indigenous languages. Another committee member was concerned over the lack of reference to unity ownership of land by Indigenous communities and asked if the government would include such a provision in the new constitution.
In response to these questions, the delegation stated that it was making efforts to revise their land act to allow such recognition, though further detail was not given. The delegation also added that government had pursued a policy of creating specific structures to decide whether or not to be a party to ILO Convention 169.
The delegation added, in response to the question about languages, that such an effort had been made, and schoolbooks had been printed in 16 languages. Furthermore, after being asked for further details, the delegation stated that there was an act to protect the cultural rights of Indigenous Peoples.
In conclusion, the Committee thanked the delegation of Nepal, having been informed with great detail on the transformation of Nepal since the last review. And though there was progress to be made, there had been steps made, which the committee found encouraging.
The third CESCR review of Nepal gives hope that further changes can occur, though there are significant obstacles in the way before such progress is achieved. It was concerning that the government of Nepal was not fully committed to ratifying and implementing ILO Convention 169, which could only truly benefit the human rights situation in Nepal.
However, it was promising that Nepal appeared acknowledging of all the indigenous rights issues it has and showed commitment to changing them amongst the other problems that it faces as a nation.
