By 
GHRD Research Team
by wholesome_manik, retrieved from Pixabay, 20 March 2023
After extensive talks and receiving funds from the EU, Nepal is preparing plans to improve the situation of human rights defenders operating in its territory. Among the discussed topics, gender equality is the one that needs more attention.
According to a piece of news published by the Asia Pacific Forum at the end of March 2025, the National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) of the Maldives and Nepal are preparing plans to increase the protection of human rights defenders with the help of the European Union.
Before addressing the plans, it is important to clarify that National Human Rights Institutions are State bodies with a constitutional and/or legislative mandate to protect and promote human rights (Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, 2024).
The plans prepared by the NHRIs include innovative approaches created using the “right to defend rights monitoring tool”. Such a tool uses human rights-based indicators to thoroughly monitor the working environment for human rights defenders. It aims to address current limitations faced by human rights defenders and improve their working conditions (Danish Institute for Human Rights, 2023).
Thanks to the monitoring tool and with the support of a small grant from the Asian Pacific Forum and the European Union, the National Human Rights Commission of Nepal (NHRC) hired new human rights defenders and is planning key policy changes.
Furthermore, with the help of the fund, in January and February 2025, the NHRC engaged in extensive dialogues across all seven Nepalese provinces and held a national session in Kathmandu to understand the challenges faced by both human rights defenders and journalists in the country, especially those from marginalised communities. The dialogues revealed that there are multiple ongoing issues to be addressed such as threats, harassment, and insufficient legal protection.
In addition, the Asia Pacific Forum facilitated these dialogues and a two-day retreat in the Nepalese city of Lalitpur at the end of last January. This retreat was a meaningful opportunity for the NHRC Commissioners to discuss priorities, assess progress, and plan institutional challenges. Overall, the retreat was described as the perfect opportunity to openly discuss the future steps and challenges for NHRC.
One of the main topics of discussion during the retreat was how gender inequality is still widespread, with women human rights defenders and female journalists facing major risks that call for policies promoting gender equality (Asia Pacific Forum, 2025).
By analysing these findings, the NHRC has concluded that amendments to the NHRC Act are necessary to ensure human rights defenders’ safety and security. Moreover, it is necessary to make adjustments to the monitoring tool to tailor it to the local Nepalese context, thus helping human rights defenders and journalists document violations and advocate for their rights.
Finally, the NHRC has promised to support human rights defenders’ activities, by, for example, providing more thorough skills and knowledge of human rights and human rights defenders’ work. The initiatives from the NHRC shed light on the situation of human rights defenders and promised to take concrete actions on the topic. This could be a breakthrough in how human rights defenders operate and help improve their overall situation when working.
Sources and further readings:
Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions. (n.d.). NHRIs.
Danish Institute for Human Rights. (n.d.). The right to defend rights monitoring tool.
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