United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and 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.

According to a press release issued by UN Women, 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 in Capacity building of NHRC staff/HR on gender equality and gender mainstreaming, policy dialogue, advocacy, monitoring on gender equality and women’s empowerment in compliance of 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 fulfill its constitutional mandate of protecting human rights of all.”

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 protect human rights.”

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 arenas.

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 empowerment of women and girls in Nepal.