“Nepal must act now to transform its responsibilities under UNDROP into bold, enforceable measures that guarantee peasant youth secure access to land, fair markets and dignified livelihoods.”
– Local civil society representative from Nepal
On Tuesday, June 30th, Ms. Rachana Poudel delivered an oral statement (by video) on behalf of Dreikönigsaktion der Katholischen Jungschar (DKA Austria), and the Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund (Fastenaktion) during the adoption of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) outcomes of Nepal under Item 6 at the 62nd session of the Human Rights Council (HRC). The Social Work Institute (SWI), Community Self Reliance Centre (CSRC), and Agroecology Youth Network Nepal (AYNN) played key roles in the preparation process.
In their statement, the NGO coalition welcomed Nepal’s acceptance of a number of recommendations received during the 51st UPR, namely recommendations for preventing and reducing hunger while ensuring long-term food security, and addressing the human rights impacts of climate change. The organizations also called on the Government of Nepal to strengthen and advance reforms pertaining to the land titling processes, implement relevant UPR recommendations in line with the Constitution of Nepal and UNDROP, and improve access to quality healthcare, education and decent work, especially for youth in rural communities.
The CCIG was happy to partner with DKA and Fastenaktion to provide technical support during the statement preparation and submission process. This work built on our previous collaboration with DKA-FA started in 2025. In this framework, CCIG provided local partners with several capacity building and follow up activities as well as technical support in order to empower them to meaningfully engage with the UPR, as a key opportunity to improve human rights implementation and monitoring in their country.
We are pleased to see local voices brought to the UN floor through DKA-FA’s participation in the UPR process for Nepal. CCIG will continue to facilitate capacity-building efforts, such as this one, to support local organizations in developing effective advocacy actions on the global stage and ensure that human rights are protected everywhere.
The text and video for the statement are available for viewing on the CCIG website. See also: statement by Fastenaktion.
Watch the Human Rights Council Item 6 adoption session here
For more information on the preparation for statement delivery, see this article