Key challenges to the protection of human rights in Nepal with special consideration to women’s rights, children’s rights, the rights of “untouchables” as well as marginalized ethnic groups

Abstract

Background: Nepal is an example of a country where, despite the existence of a legal apparatus, tools in form of provisions on the protection of human rights as well as constitutional bodies controlling these rights, their observance remains a considerable challenge. The reasons behind it have not been sufficiently explored till date.

Research purpose: The purpose of this article is to identify the causes of the weakness of the protection of human rights in Nepal.

Methods: The data was obtained through the use of methods and techniques such as literature studies, content analysis, and in-depth interviews conducted in Nepal with human rights lawyers, employees of non-governmental human rights organizations and prominent activists, during field research as part of a research grant.

Conclusions: The prime reason why the existence of an appropriate legal apparatus does not guarantee the observance of human rights in Nepal is the fact that in the collective consciousness of the Nepalis the local values, cultural and religious norms, traditions and customs, many of them conflicting with human rights, take precedence over those rights.

Patriarchal values and customs rooted in Hinduism essentially prevent women from exercising their rights, while several thousand-year-old traditions and beliefs keep excluding entire sections of the society, denying them their dignity and right to full participation in public life. Furthermore, the lack of political will and inefficient institutions make it even more difficult to observe human rights.

Among the recommendations made on how to increase the protection of human rights in Nepal are: training State employees in observing the laws; increasing the employment of women in the administration; increasing the representation in public life of members of all castes and ethnic groups; supporting activists fighting against human rights violations in the name of tradition or for political reasons.