17-point status paper on human rights defenders issued

A 17-point statement on human rights defenders has been issued in Karnali. The status paper was issued by the provincial conference of human rights defenders organized by the National Human Rights Commission in the state capital Birendranagar on March 6 and 7.

Buddha Narayan Sahni, head of the Jumla branch of the commission, informed that the status paper has been issued to address the issue of the rights of human rights defenders working in different areas of 10 districts of the state. In the status quo, it was emphasized that the governments of all the three levels should make laws for the protection and promotion of human rights defenders and their role should be respected.

It also called for the establishment of an independent and autonomous national mechanism for monitoring and regulating the capacity of human rights defenders and their role. The status paper also includes the point that the decisions, orders and recommendations of the esteemed Supreme Court regarding the protection of human rights should be implemented effectively.

According to the Joint Secretary of the Commission, Nawaraj Sapkota, the conference had demanded that there should be a commission in the capital Surkhet so that the jurisdiction of the office of the Human Rights Commission in Jumla would remain the same. During a discussion with Chief Minister Jeevan Bahadur Shahi about the building, he suggested that there should be a state level office in Surkhet.

The draft committee formed under the convenorship of Jumla chief Buddha Narayan Sahni had prepared a status paper on the condition of human rights defenders. The conference is expected to provide new guarantees of human rights. Netra Shahi, district president of the Federation of Nepali Journalists, said that the conference held by the commission in search of the rights and duties of human rights defenders who always work for the benefit of others would be of special significance.

Former Dean of Midwestern University, Pitamber Dhakal, hoped that the program would bring fruitful results.