The Indigenous Nationalities Commission (INC) has asked the government to celebrate World Indigenous Day on August 9 as a national event.

Nepal’s various indigenous communities and organisations, including the concerned government bodies formed for the welfare of indigenous nationalities, have been organising the celebrations separately.

However, the government’s only role was to issue a statement addressing the indigenous nationalities while they celebrated their annual function.

Like previous years, this year, the INC is also organising an interaction on August 9 in the presence of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli along with dignitaries, including lawmakers, ambassadors, high-level government officials, and representatives of indigenous organizations.

As part of its preparation, the INC organised a discussion among the representatives of various government bodies and constitutional commissions on Monday and requested them to organize programs to celebrate World Indigenous Day. Office bearers and representatives of different ministries, indigenous organizations and constitutional commissions were present at the discussion during which they expressed their willingness to celebrate  World iIndigenous Day.

“This is not only the matter of the indigenous people celebrating the annual day, the government should also organize a national event to celebrate the day meant for more than 35% percent of the country’s population,” said Ram Bahadur Thapamagar, Chairperson of the Commission. “Therefore, we have asked the government bodies, including ministries, to celebrate the day by organizing national events.”

The government has not taken any initiative to celebrate indigenous day except the initiation of the then Minister of Tourism, Culture, and Civil Aviation, who formed a committee to celebrate this important day at the government level 29 years ago.

Member of the INC Surya Bahadur Gurung said the Nepal government has endorsed the UN declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and, therefore, the government should celebrate the International Day for the Indigenous Peoples.

Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN)—the umbrella organisation of all the country's indigenous communities–has announced a week-long celebration of the International Day of Indigenous People, with its constituent organisations organizing different functions each day.

This year, the United Nations has announced to celebrate indigenous day with the theme ‘Protecting the Rights of Indigenous People in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact’.