Press Release» |
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The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal must ratify
immediately the Optional Protocol on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (ESCR)
On the occasion of adoption of the Optional
Protocol on ESCR, the National Network on Right to Food (RtFN),
Nepal welcomes the decision of the Human Rights Council on 18th
of June 2008 in Geneva, Switzerland adopting the Protocol. The
adoption of the Optional Protocol is an important achievement
for the materialisation of International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The Optional Protocol is
the result of several years of work by governments, civil society,
HR experts and the UN human rights bodies to remedy a long-term
gap in human rights protection under the international system.
An inter-governmental Working Group has deliberated on the scope
and content of the draft Optional Protocol since 2004. The Optional
Protocol adopted by the Council includes a number of provisions,
including that the States Parties to the Covenant joining the
Protocol recognize the competence of the UN Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights to receive and consider communications
alleging violations of the economic, social and cultural rights
set forth in the Covenant.
Thus, the Optional Protocol will provide an important platform
to expose abuses that are often linked to poverty, discrimination
and neglect, and that victims frequently endure in silence and
helplessness. It will provide a way for individuals, who may otherwise
be isolated and powerless, to make the international community
aware of their situation. The Optional Protocol will allow persons
to petition an international human rights body about violations
of rights guaranteed in the ICESCR. The Protocol is expected to
get the final approval by the United Nations General Assembly
later this year. Thereafter, the Protocol will enter into force
once it has been ratified by ten States.
With the adoption of the Protocol, the Human
Rights Council brings to fruition a process set in motion by the
1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights prompting the Committee
on Economic, Social and Cultural rights to prepare a first draft
of Optional Protocol in 1996 and leading to the commencement of
intergovernmental negotiations in 2004.
While welcoming the adoption of Optional Protocol
on ESCR by the Human Rights Council, we urge the government of
Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal to ratify immediately this
Optional Protocol and be one of the first ten states to bring
the Protocol into force.
Sarba Raj Khadka,
PhD
Secretariat Coordinator
National Network on Right to Food, Nepal (RTF Network)
21 June 2008
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