Nepal’s National Human Rights Commission may lose the  ‘A grade’ -- a prestigious status for national rights bodies that maintain autonomy and independence from their respective governments-- due to the controversial appointments made to the commission earler this year. 

The Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, an umbrella body of the human rights institutions from 127 countries, has said the prestigious ‘A’ grade that Nepal’s human rights body enjoyed is under threat, reported The Kathmandu Post newspaper. 

Last year the Nepali government, headed by Prime Minister Oli, passed an ordinance, amending the Consitution Council Act, despite the fierce opposition from opposition parties. Thereafter, Oli dissolved the house, without passing the ordinance through parliament. 

Under the same ordinance, Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari in February appointed five members, including the chairman, to the National Human Rights Commission.

Not only were the appointments made without parliamentary hearings but their names had been recommended without the approval of the Speaker of the House of Representatives Agni Sapkota and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, the leader of the opposition in the House, as they had boycotted the meeting that made the recommendations.

In March, the global alliance sought clarification from the government if the autonomy and independence of the commission, as mandated by the Paris Principles, were ensured in the appointment process. 

The government, in its response, said that the appointments were made fulfilling due legal process without jeopardizing the autonomy of the constitutional commission. The international body, however, remained unconvinced. 

“The Sub-Committee on Accreditation is of the view that the response provided does not fully address all the concerns raised,” the body informed the Nepal government in a letter written in June to the chairman of the country’s National Human Rights Commission body. 

The letter also said the sub-committee on accreditation will hold a review of the country’s status in October this year. 

Activists say the downgrading would be a big setback for the country. 

“It would be a matter of shame for the country, which is a member of the UN Human Rights Council, to see its human rights commission downgraded,” Kapil Shrestha, a former member of the country’s National Human Rights Commission, was quoted as saying by The Kathmandu Post. 

“Human rights and democracy has been our soft capital to present before the world,” he added.

(SAM)