Strengthening Collaboration to Advance Gender Equality and Human Rights

[Press release]

Navanita Sinha, Head of Office a.i., (left) and Murari Prasad Khanal, Acting Secretary, National Human Rights Commission Nepal (right) sign the MoU on Strengthening Collaboration to Advance Gender Equality and Human Rights. Photo: UN Women/Subeksha Poudel

Kathmandu, Nepal — United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the National Human Rights Commission, Nepal (NHRC) signed a five-year-long memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen collaboration to advance gender equality and human rights in Nepal.

NHRC is a key constitutional body to advance human rights in Nepal. Through the partnership with UN Women, the Commission aims to enhance human rights in Nepal, focusing on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The MoU highlights two key areas for collaboration between UN Women and NHRC:

1. Capacity building of NHRC staff/HR on gender equality and gender mainstreaming
2. Policy dialogue, advocacy, monitoring of gender equality and women’s empowerment in compliance with human rights standards and commitments of Nepal.

Navanita Sinha, Head of Office a.i. of UN Women Nepal shared, “UN Women’s partnership with NHRC is critical to advance women’s rights and ensure the international human rights commitments are implemented in Nepal.”

Speaking at the event, Honorable Top Bahadur Magar, Chairperson of NHRC Nepal stated, “It is important to enhance NHRC’s capacities on gender equality to fulfil its constitutional mandate of protecting human rights of all.”

Honourable Lily Thapa, Commissioner of NHRC Nepal stated, “As NHRC team members are the frontline responders for human rights violations, strengthening their capacity on gender equality is key to protecting human rights.”

Strengthening Collaboration to Advance Gender Equality and Human Rights: UN Women Nepal and NHRC Nepal sign five-year-long MoU to build capacity building of NHRC staff/HR on gender equality and gender mainstreaming and carry out policy dialogue, advocacy, monitoring on gender equality and women’s empowerment in compliance of human rights standards and commitments of Nepal. Photo: UN Women/Subeksha Poudel

In the past, Nepal has made significant progress in establishing conditions within government institutions and policy frameworks that support the advancement of gender equality and women’s empowerment. Nepal’s constitution of 2015 guarantees equal rights to women and prohibits discrimination in the application of laws, as well as mandating gender-responsive policies that advance the rights of women in all areas. Despite the efforts, there are still gaps in the implementation of the policies and standards for achieving substantive equality for women and marginalized groups. In this regard, this partnership is critical in advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in Nepal.