Dr. Mahat calls for a promotion and protection of human rights

Kathmandu, Mar. 1: Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat has emphasized on the universal, indivisible, interrelated and interdependent nature of all human rights and called for a holistic look for better promotion and protection of human rights everywhere.

Addressing the 34^th session of the Human Right Council in Geneva on Wednesday, he said that there should be no selective preference to one set of rights over others, said the Permanent Mission of Nepal in Geneva in a press statement.

"The right to development should be mainstreamed and be treated on equal footing as civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights," said the Minister.

While highlighting the profound importance of the right to development for many developing countries like Nepal, he stressed that the realization of this right should be an integral part of the implementation of the SDGs and other internationally agreed development goals.

He outlined the equitable, non-discriminatory and inclusive provisions enshrined in the Constitution of Nepal, and mentioned that efforts to internalize Nepal’s international human rights obligations through domestic laws and enforcement measures were ongoing.

"Commitment of the government of Nepal to addressing the issue of transitional justice and expressed that the government is fully committed to provide all support to the effective functioning of both the Commissions established for this purpose," said Dr. Mahat.

Updating the Council on the recent political developments in Nepal, he said that the Government is committed to implementing the Constitution, including through holding of democratic elections for all three tiers of the federal set-up, and the elections for local bodies have already been scheduled.

He informed the international community about Nepal’s candidature to the Human Rights Council for the term 2018-2020, which shows our sincere desire to contribute to the work of the Council.

"He had a meeting with Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, Minister for International Development and the Pacific of Australia Tuesday afternoon during which discussions were held on mutual cooperation in multilateral mechanisms and strengthening Australian cooperation of technical and vocational education/trainings to Nepali nationals, among others," read the statement.

Similarly, he met with Mustafa Ramid, Minister of Justice of Morocco, Zahid Hamid, Federal Minister for Law and Justice of Pakistan, Peter Szijjarto, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary and Francis Gurry, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).