Table of Contents

Human Rights in Nepal

Human Rights in Nepal: Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to everyone, from birth until death. Human rights consolidate human dignity, prestigious, liberty, and self-esteem. Human rights are the most important element for human beings, which are sometimes called fundamental rights, basic rights by birth, and inherent rights. Universal rights are inherent to all of us, regardless of nationality, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status. They range from the most fundamental – the right to life – to those that make life worth living, such as the rights to food, education, work, health, and liberty. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 was the first legal document to set out the fundamental human rights to be universally protected. The 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provide the principles and building blocks of current and future human rights conventions, treaties, and other legal instruments. Human rights are the Universal and Inalienable rights that all can utilize based on equality.

To understand human rights in Nepal, Nepal has committed to promoting and protecting human rights to correspond to the objectives and principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948. Nepal is as well as a state party to various international treaties and conventions related to human rights and humanitarian laws. After a long struggle, Nepal has become a federal democratic republican country. It is supposed to be a success of a historical public movement (Jana Andolan-2). As a result, the interim constitution of Nepal 2063 has comprised the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provisions. This constitution has created different rights on the issues of human rights in Nepal.

Discussing the provision of human rights in Nepal, the Constitution of Nepal 2072 is the present governing Constitution of Nepal. Nepal is governed according to the Constitution which came into effect on Ashoj 3, 2072 (September 20, 2015) replacing the Interim Constitution of 2063. The constitution of Nepal is divided into 35 parts, 308 Articles, and 9 Schedules. The Constitution restructured Nepal into a federal republican system from a democratic multi-party system. The Constitution completed the transition of Nepal from constitutional monarchy to republicanism, and from a unitary system to federalism. The Federal system is established with three tiers, Federal Government, Provincial Government, and Local Level. The guiding principles of the ‘Holding Together’ type of Nepalese federal system are based on Co-existence, Cooperation, and Coordination (3Cs).

Huma rights in Nepal: Nepal is defined in Article no 4 of the Constitution as an “independent, indivisible, sovereign, secular, inclusive, democratic, socialism-oriented, federal democratic republican state.” In terms of human rights in Nepal, the rights of gender and sexual minorities are protected by the new constitution with provisions of special laws to protect, empower, and develop minority groups as well as allow them to get citizenship in their chosen gender. The rights of women were explicitly recognized, with the constitution stating, “Women shall have an equal ancestral right without any gender-based discrimination”. Acts leading to conversions from one religion to another were banned, and acts that undermine or jeopardize the religion of another were prohibited. The constitution has declared the nation to be secular and neutral toward all religions. Nepal also has continued not to use the death penalty. Nepal abolished capital punishment in 2047 after the promulgation of that year’s Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal.

Provisions of Human Rights in Nepal

Human Rights in Nepal; the Constitution has guaranteed various civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights as fundamental rights. Under part-III, (fundamental rights and duties) articles no 16 to 46 of the Constitution of Nepal 2072 guarantee 31 fundamental rights to the Nepalese people. These include freedom to live with dignity, freedom of speech and expression, religious and cultural freedom, right against untouchability, etc. Article 48 describes the duties of every Nepalese. It says to safeguard the nationality, sovereignty, and integrity of Nepal. Following are the lists of human rights in Nepal as a fundamental right of Nepalese people provisioned in the Constitution of Nepal 2072.

Provisions of human rights in Nepal:

Right to live with dignity (Article 16)
Right to freedom (Article 17)
Right to equality (Article 18)
Right to communication (Article 19)
Right relating to justice (Article 20)
Right of a victim of a crime (Article 21)
Right against torture (Article 22)
Right against preventive detention (Article 23)
Right against untouchability and discrimination (Article 24)
Right relating to property (Article 25)
Right to religious freedom (Article 26)
Rights to food (Article 24)
Right to information (Article 27)
Right to privacy (Article 28)
Right against exploitation (Article 29)
Right to clean environment (Article 30)
Right to education (Article 31)
Right to language and culture (Article 32)
Right to employment (Article 33)
Right to labor (Article 34)
Right to health (Article 35)
Right to food (Article 36)
Right to shelter (Article 37)
Right of women (Article 38)
Right of children (Article 39)
Right of Dalits (Article 40)
Right of senior citizen (Article 41)
Right to social justice (Article 42)
Right to social security (Article 43)
Right of consumer (Article 44)
Right against exile (Article 45)
Right to constitutional remedies (Article 46)

Conclusion

Nepal’s constitution reflects, through its preamble multiparty democracy, individual liberty, and freedom, fundamental rights, human rights, adult franchise, periodic election, press freedom, rule of law, and fair, independent, and capable judiciary as a basic democratic value of the Nepalese society. It took eight full years after the adoption of the interim constitution in 2063 to promulgate the new constitution. The Constitution of Nepal 2072 has established Nepal as a secular and federal democratic republic with a bicameral parliament. The Constitution has established an independent judiciary, and 13 constitutional commissions including, the National Human Rights Commission, Dalit Commission, and Women Commission with significant roles and responsibilities. The Constitution has guaranteed various civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights as fundamental rights. To ensure these fundamental rights of the citizens, the government has issued various acts and regulations related to human rights in Nepal. The Constitution has enshrined fundamental rights, civic freedom, human rights, voting rights, full press freedom, etc. to Nepalese citizens. Eventually, human rights in Nepal have been established and ensured through the Constitution of Nepal 2072.

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