Kathmandu, February 20:

On the occasion of the International Mother Tongue Day, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) today urged the government to respect the rights of all people to use their mother tongues.

“The National Human Rights Commission urges the government to honour all the languages of different castes which are in practise across the country,” the National Human Rights Commission stated issuing a press release today.

The United Nations has been celebrating February 21 as the International Mother Tongue Day since 1999 after the world body had passed a resolution and established the United

Nations Economic and Social Council.

“Since Article 17 of the Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2007, has guaranteed that each community shall have the right to get basic education in their mother tongue, every citizen shall have the right to free education from the state up to secondary level, and each community residing in Nepal shall have the right to preserve and promote its language, script, culture, cultural civility and heritage, the government should respect these rights,” the press release stated.

The National Human Rights Commission also asked the government to make a conducive environment in order to respect every language, as there are 124 languages in the country as per the 1998 census.

The National Human Rights Commission also called the government not to discriminate against anyone based on their mother tongues.