International Conference in Kathmandu

A delegation comprising Mr. Justice D. Murugesan, Member and Mr. Surajit Dey, Registrar (Law), NHRC, India attended the International Conference on Identifying Challenges, Assessing Progress, Moving Forward: Addressing Impunity and Realizing Human Rights in South Asia at Kathmandu, Nepal from 9th -11th April, 2018. The President of Nepal,
Mrs. Bidya Devi Bhandari inaugurated the Conference, which was organized by the National Human Rights Commission, Nepal.
During the course of preliminary sessions, Justice Murugesan gave an insight into the structure, functioning and jurisdiction of the National Human Rights Commission, India, which was setup under the Protection of Human Rights Act, passed by Parliament in 1993. He highlighted, among others, the Commission's work in the area of Bonded and Child Labour, rights of elderly persons, disabled persons, environmental issues, custodial deaths and encounter deaths, human trafficking and related challenges. He said that the Commission is committed to building awareness on human rights.
Most of the speakers emphasized that poverty, lack of quality education, contracting space for freedom of speech and expression, lack of women empowerment in the South Asian countries are the major challenges. They also expressed concern over the increasing incidents of human rights violations of women, children and older persons in the region. One of the Speakers, Dr. Seema Samar, Chairperson, Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, particularly, spoke about terrorism as a real threat to human rights and the rule of law.
The conference concluded with a Kathmandu Declaration which, among others, strongly reaffirmed the need for full adherence to the UN mandated 'Paris Principles' and actively working towards this, including through seeking legislative reforms ensuring the integrity and financial independence of the NHRIs. Noting that the year 2018 marks the 70th anniversary of the UDHR, it reaffirmed marking that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interrelated, interdependent and mutually reinforcing, and that all human rights must be treated fairly, equally and with the same level of attention.
The representatives of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, as well as the National Women's Commission of Bhutan, participated in the conference. Representatives of the NHRIs from Jordan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mongolia and Philippines also attended along with a broad range of human rights organisations and journalists from the South Asia region. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)-Kathmandu and a number of international human rights organisations were present.