While civil society organisations reckon Nepal has made dismal progress in implementing the recommendations from the previous Universal Periodic Review, the government in its report presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council has portrayed substantial progress.

During the third cycle of the review held in January 2022, Nepal supported 196 of 233 recommendations, agreeing to implement them. Nepal’s report submitted last month and unveiled by the council on Friday, says, “most of the recommendations made by the member states during the third cycle have been achieved.”

The report claims that Nepal has made sustainable progress in increasing autonomy of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), setting grounds for investigating insurgency era incidents of gross human rights violations, criminalising torture and reducing discrimination.

However, the claims in the report presented before the United Nations are exaggerated, say those working in human rights advocacy.

The report claims that a new bill of the NHRC Act has been drafted in line with Nepal’s constitution and the Paris Principles.

The commission had retained its global ‘A’ status after agreeing to revise the Act. Nepal had made similar commitments in the previous review. Against its claim that the bill has been ready, it is still in the preliminary phase and remains under review in different ministries. The commission is unhappy with the bill as it is mum on staff management in the constitutional human rights watchdog.

In its another point, the government claims to have investigated the complaints of torture and extrajudicial killings. However, those working for the rights of victims don’t buy the claim.

Over the years, dozens of custodial deaths under suspicious circumstances have been reported, alongside the issues of torture in prisons and police custody. “While complaints have been lodged in a few cases after continuous pressure, there has not been prosecution against the police in any of them,” said Bikash Basnet, director at the Advocacy Forum Nepal.

Ever since the last periodic review, 58,472 cases relating to killings, deaths, rape, and other offences have been lodged with the police. Successive governments have ignored a Supreme Court verdict, which asked for the formation of a separate investigation mechanism to probe cases of torture relating to the police.

The report also claims that vital registration has been made easy and it is committed to ensure no one is left stateless. Against the claim, hundreds of children are living in distress due to the lack of birth registration (as also revealed in an investigative story by the Post in August).

In its another claim that contradicts with the reality, the two transitional justice commissions have not yet started probing the war era incidents of atrocities in the absence of the regulation of the Enforced Disappearances Enquiry, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act that was amended last year. Over a year has passed since the amendment, yet successive governments have not endorsed the regulation.

The report presented by the government doesn’t align with the one submitted by a consortium of the non-government organisations and the conflict victims in October. The report by 530 civil society organisations (CSO) suggests that most of the recommendations have either not been implemented or only partially implemented.

Four successive governments, led by each of the three big parties, have been constituted since the last periodic review. Among the recommendations in 42 different thematic issues, the government’s implementation is particularly weak on child rights, sexual and gender violence, national human rights institutions, and equity and non-discrimination, the CSO’s report says.

During the periodic review five years back, Nepal had supported all 10 recommendations relating to child rights. However, not a single one of them has been fully implemented: while 60 percent have been partially implemented, 40 percent have been completely ignored.

The same is the case when it comes to recommendations related to sexual and gender-based violence. Nepal has partially implemented 61 percent of them, leaving 39 percent unimplemented, according to the report by the coalition.

For instance, Nepal had agreed to ensure sustainable funding for a sufficient number of safe shelters for victims of gender-based violence and allocate enough funds and one-stop crisis management centres for victims and survivors of all forms of gender-based violence and trafficking in persons. Both the promises have been broken in the five years.

Similarly, despite Nepal’s commitment to fully implement all four recommendations related to human rights institutions, only one has been fully adopted.

On equity and non-discrimination, various countries made 18 recommendations, of which Nepal accepted 14. However, none of these have been fully implemented. Around 80 percent have seen partial implementation, while the remaining 20 percent have not been implemented at all.

Nepal will be quizzed by the UN member states in the fourth review cycle slated for January 21 in Geneva. The questions will be based on their observations and reports from different CSOs. Nepali representatives will present their defence.