By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Nov. 30: The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers is working on a Universal Periodic Review (UPR) implementation action plan which will outline the main recommendation activities, responsible agencies, supporting agencies, time frame and monitoring indicators.

Koshal Chandra Subedi, Joint secretary at the (OPMCM) for human rights and international treaty agreement, shared this with the participants of the national-level interaction programme organised by the human rights network organisation – Beyond Beijing Committee (BBC) Nepal and the Right Here Right Now (RHRN) coalition in Kathmandu on Monday.

“Nepal considers UPR a constructive mechanism and the action plan is a part of the government’s wider efforts to strengthen human rights in the country,” Subedi said in the programme organised in collaboration with the Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC), Women’s Rehabilitation Centre (WOREC) and Durban Review Conference Follow-up Committee (DRCFC).
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a process which involves a review of the human rights records of all the member states of the United Nations.

In the third cycle of UPR held in 2021, Nepal received 233 recommendations to improve the human rights situation in the country, of which it accepted 196.
About the recommendation acceptance and rejection, Subedi clarified, “Some recommendations, such as those relating to proselytising and same-sex marriage could not be accepted due to Nepal’s social and cultural context and others had to be rejected because of geo-political concerns.”

Deepak Jung Dhoj Karki, Joint Secretary at the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), stated that it was not only the responsibility of the state to implement the recommendations of the UPR and urged the non-governmental sector and civil society organisations to play a supporting role.

He also stressed the need to include local governments in the UPR implementation and form a centralised and accessible human rights database.
Various other stakeholders from UPR alliances also used the programme to call on the government to solve human rights issues related to transitional justice, gender-based violence and LGBTQI+ rights.