Former members seek resignation of the national human rights body chairman, members

KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 13

Geneva-based Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions has downgraded National Human Rights Commission's status to 'B.

Former members and office bearers of the NHRC today organised a press conference and expressed their serious concern about the GANHRI's decision to downgrade NHRC's status.

Former Chair of NHRC Kedarnath Upadhyay, former members of NHRC Kapil Shrestha, Gauri Pradhan, Mohna Ansari, Govinda Sharma Paudel, and Ram Dayal Rakesh issued a joint press release demanding that members of the NHRC and its chief resign from their posts to maintain the NHRC's credibility and to save the country's image in the international arena.

Expressing their deep concern about the downgrading of the NHRC status by GANHRI, former office bearers of the NHRC urged the government and all stakeholders to do the needful to retain NHRC's 'A' status. GANHRI downgraded NHRC' status raising questions on the legality of the appointment of NHRC office bearers (members and its chief) and their work performance.

In accordance with Article 18 of the GANHRI Statute, a recommendation to downgrade does not take effect for a period of a year. This means the NHRC still has a year to establish its compliance with the Paris Principles.

The human rights body had retained its 'A' status since its inception for performing its duties in an autonomous, independent, neutral, and impartial manner. 'B' rating raises questions about Nepal's international commitment to human rights, former office bearers of the NHRC said in their press release.

They said the GANHRI's decision to downgrade the NHRC's status at a time when Nepal was elected twice – in 2017 and 2020 - to the UN Human Rights Council as its member had to do with the unconstitutional, opaque, and controversial appointment of NHRC chief and its members.

They said the Geneva based organisations' decision to downgrade the NHRC status was bad news not just for the human rights body, but also for the entire country.

GANHRI sub-committee on accreditation, which had urged the NHRC last year to abide by the Paris Principles, made the damning recommendations after it found that there was no improvement in NHRC on issues it had raised earlier.

After the KP Sharma Oli government made appointments to the NHRC through an ordinance which was repealed by the government subsequently, GANHRI had expressed serious concerns about these appointments and warned the NHRC that it could review the NHRC's 'A' status.

GANHRI took the decision to downgrade NHRC status after it failed to show that appointments were made in line with Nepal's domestic laws and the Paris Principles that guarantees open, transparent, and participatory process are followed. The SCA notes that the NHRC maintains 'A' status until the SCA's second session of 2023. This allows an opportunity for the NHRC to provide documentary evidence necessary to establish its continued conformity with the Paris Principles.

A version of this article appears in the print on November 14, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.