NEPAL: NHRC launches book on ‘human rights challenges’ facing Nepal
The National Human Rights Commission released a book on Wednesday that deals with the human rights problem in Nepal and discusses the possible resolutions
Nepal News, Wednesday, January 21, 2004
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Wednesday launched a publication titled “Conflict, Human Rights & Peace: Challenges Before Nepal”, a press release stated.
Edited by Dr Bipin Adhikari, the book includes a compilation of articles and papers presented in a lecture series organized by the National Human Rights Commission in the year 2003.
The Chairperson of the Commission, Rt. Hon. Nayan Bahadur Khatri formally launched the book, which is dedicated to the human rights leader, late Rishikesh Shaha.
Of the 13 scholarly papers dealing with the present situation of conflict between the Government and the Maoists from a human rights perspective, prominent contributors to the book include the Assistant Secretary General to the United Nations Kul Chandra Gautam, famous international peacemaker and scholar Johan Galtung and Henning Karcher, the former Resident Representative of United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Nepal.
The book is dedicated towards enhancing the human rights understanding for the conflict management and resolution.
NHRC chairperson, Rt. Hon. Nayan Bahadur Khatri in his foreword to the book has stated: “The ongoing conflict has resulted in massive human rights violations throughout the country. Unless the conflict is tackled and violence is brought to a halt, the human rights of the people will continue to be in jeopardy.”
He further states, “In fact, there have never been societies without conflict. There is nothing strange about it. Conflict is a process of change. The real problem starts when we ignore legitimate solutions to the conflict that could benefit the society in the long run.”
Other contributors to the book include NHRC Commissioner Sushil Pyakurel, Acting Secretary Kedar Prasad Poudyal and other eminent scholars and professionals such as Anand Aditya, D.B. Gurung, Dhruba Kumar, Asbjorn Eide, Karen Kenny, Patrick Twomey, Niraj Dawadi, Laksiri Fernando and Bipin Adhikari.
The book also analyzes the international experiences of conflicts in Guatemala and Sri Lanka and draws pertinent lessons from these experiences amid the ongoing conflict in Nepal.
Acting Secretary of the Commission Kedar Prasad Poudyal welcomed the participants in the ceremony while NHRC Commissioner Hon. Sushil Pyakurel replied to the various questions raised by the journalists and media persons.
