Human Rights in Nepal

Human Rights in Constitution 2047

The 1990 constitution establishes new rights for the people of Nepal, and preserves others guaranteed under the 1962 constitution.

The thirteen articles of Part 3 provide for the protection of certain "Fundamental Rights": the rights to equality Articles:-

1) Freedom
2) Press and Publication
3) Regarding Criminal justice
4),Against Preventive Detention
5) To Information
6) Property
7) Cultural and educational right
8) To Religion
9) Against exploitation
10) Against exile
11) To privacy
12) The right to constitutional remedy of abuses
13) Some of these articles include specifications of further rights.

For example, Article 12, which begins by prohibiting unlawful deprivation of personal liberty and capital punishment, goes on to guarantee five freedoms: (a) freedom of opinion and expression; (b) freedom to assemble peaceably and without arms; (c) freedom to form unions and associations; (d) freedom to move throughout the Kingdom and reside in any part thereof; and (e) freedom to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, industry, or trade.

Other rights are mentioned elsewhere in the constitution. For example, Article 26/6 says that "The State shall pursue a policy of increasing the participation of the labour force, the chief socio-economic force of the country... ensuring the right to work, and thus protecting its rights and interests." Some rights are not explicitly designated as such, but are nevertheless implied and established by prohibitions of their infringement. One of the most important of such rights, established in Part 17 and especially Article 119, is that of citizens to form political parties and participate in elections.

This right to form political parties, of course, is a cornerstone of the 1990 constitution, the struggle for which was a primary cause of its coming into existence. The establishment of such a right in the 1990 constitution required the elimination of the 1962 constitution's Article 11/2a, a prohibition on political parties, somewhat paradoxically inserted into the old constitution's bill of rights. This section of the old constitution, also labelled "Part 3," was called "Fundamental Duties and Rights," and began with Article 9, "Fundamental Duties of the Citizen," which required "devotion to the Nation and loyalty to the State," along with exercising one's own rights with regard to law and the rights of others, as duties of every citizen. This article on duties was dropped, making Part 3 of the new constitution purely a bill of rights.

Many of the rights guaranteed in the 1990 constitution are carried over from the 1962 constitution. These include the rights to equality (old constitution Article 10, new 11); freedom, including a further specification of five freedoms as in the new constitution (old Article 11, new 12); a right against exile (old 12, new 21); against exploitation (old 13, new 20); to religion (old 14, new 19); property (old 15, new 17); and constitutional remedies (old 16, new 23). Fundamental rights not specified as such in the old constitution, but added to the new, include freedom of the press (new Article 13); the right against preventive detention (15); the right "to demand and receive information on any matter of public importance" (16); the cultural and educational rights of "every community residing within the Kingdom of Nepal" (18), and the right to privacy (22).

Important changes have also been made in the provisions of some of the articles carried over from the 1962 constitution dealing with these fundamental rights. For example, a provision for affirmative action legislation to "protect or promote the interests of" the disadvantaged has been inserted into Article 11, along with a prohibition of caste discrimination against untouchables and a guarantee of equal pay for the same work by men and women (11/3-5). Article 12/1 gains a prohibition on capital punishment, and Article 12/2e substitutes a guarantee of "freedom to choose any profession, occupation, trade or to start any industry" for the old constitution's freedom to acquire, enjoy or dispose of property (old article 11/2e), a right guaranteed elsewhere in both documents. Article 14 establishes as a separate right the freedom from police and judicial abuses formerly included as subsections of the right to freedom (old Article 11/3-8); and it adds a new prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (Clause 4). Article 19, Clause (2) adds guarantees of rights of religious communities to those previously granted to individuals; and Article 20/4 protects children agains hazardous employment. All in all, the 1990 constitution provides for substantial gains in human rights over and above those guaranteed in the 1962 constitution.