KATHMANDU, NOV 19 - The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday requested Constituent Assembly (CA) Chairman Subas Nembang to help the constitutional rights body retain its “independence and autonomy”.

After the Ministry of Law and Justice registered a bill at the CA Secretariat in August, writing off the key adjectives (“independent” and “autonomous”) used in the preamble of the NHRC Act 1997 to describe the organisation, NHRC officials have been requesting lawmakers and the CA chairman to help protect the rights body’s independence.

Officials at the rights watchdog maintain that these omissions and “other distortions” render the institution toothless.

It should be noted that the Minister for Law and Justice has rejected the commission’s request for incorporation of the two key words in the bill and provisions that could give the rights body more teeth to hold rights violators, including government officials, accountable.

During Wednesday’s meeting with Nembang, NHRC Chairman Kedar Nath Upadhyaya requested the former to take initiative to ensure that the bill gets corrected as it passes through parliamentary discussion.

Upadhyaya pointed that NHRC’s autonomy and independence could not

be curtailed as the commission has to function as

per the Paris Principles adopted by the United Nations, according to a statement.

Nembang assured NHRC officials that he would ask the Chief Whip of every political party to help secure the agency’s independence. NHRC office-bearers were present at the meeting.

Posted on: 2009-11-19 09:44

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