Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal
Changing with Nepal
OHCHR-Nepal is currently concluding a process of restructuring its office. This ‘change process’ was necessitated by the shifting political environment, including: the political transition and peace process; the Constituent Assembly election and the
writing of a new Constitution, and the need for capacity-building—and strengthening
in general—of the human rights protection system, including the National Human
Rights Commission (NHRC)...
Full Document
Op-ed Article (English / Nepali)
The High Commissioner for Human Rights is the principal United Nations official with responsibility for human rights and is accountable to the Secretary-General.
The position of High Commissioner was established in December 1993 by a General Assembly resolution, which gave the High Commissioner the broad mandate to promote and protect all human rights: civil, political, economic, social and cultural. After Louise Arbour, Navanethem Pillay was appointed High Commissioner in September 2008. Her Representative a.i. in Nepal is Jyoti Sanghera. The OHCHR is guided in its work in Nepal by the principles of the United Nations, including impartiality, independence, objectivity and transparency. OHCHR-Nepal office is located in Chhauni, Kathmandu.
Agreement between the High Commissioner and the Government of Nepal , 09 June 2010.
The mandate of the OHCHR in Nepal was set out in April 2005. The renewed agreement was signed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Government of Nepal on 09 June 2010 in Geneva. In concluding this agreement , the High Commissioner received assurances from the Government that OHCHR will continue to exercise its mandate to independently monitor and report on the human rights situation in Nepal.
Download the pdf version of the agreement. English / Nepali
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Biodata of Jyoti Sanghera, Representative a.i (acting) of the Jyoti Sanghera has been the Deputy Representative and presently the Representative a.i of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal. She has been with Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for close to a decade serving as the Adviser on trafficking in Geneva for several years and subsequently as the Senior Human Rights Adviser in Sri Lanka. She has also worked with UNICEF both in South Asia and New York and with UNDP’s regional office in New Delhi . Jyoti Sanghera has worked on human rights protection issues in relation to women, migrants, and other discriminated groups in conflict and post conflict situations for the past three decades in various capacities, including with key NGOs in North America and Asia. She has taught for several years in the Department of Women’s Studies in the University of Victoria in Canada. Jyoti Sanghera has a Ph.D from the University of California, Berkeley, USA, and a Masters degrees in Women and International Development from the ISS, the Hague in The Netherlands, and in History from JNU in New Delhi. | |
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Biodata of Navanethem Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner The High Commissioner for Human rights, who has the rank of Under Secretary-General of the United Nations, heads the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The post of High Commissioner was established in December 1993 by a General Assembly resolution, in accordance with a recommendation contained in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. The resolution specifies that the High Commissioner is the principal United Nations official responsible for United Nations human rights activities, and that the High Commissioner performs his/her duties under the direction and authority of the Secretary-General. The resolution gives the High Commissioner the broad mandate to promote and protect all human rights: civil, political, economic, social and cultural. Navanethem Pillay was appointed
High Commissioner for Human
Rights by the United Nations
Secretary-General and approved
by the General Assembly, effective
1 September 2008.
From 2003 to 2008, Ms. Pillay, a South-
African national, served as Judge
on the International Criminal Court
(ICC). She was elected Judge President
of the UN International Criminal Court Tribunal for Rwanda
(ICTR) in 1999, which she joined in 1995 having been elected
as Judge by the UN General Assembly; her four year term with
ICTR was renewed in 1998. Ms. Pillay participated in the ICTR’s
groundbreaking jurisprudence on rape as genocide and on issues
of freedom of speech and hate propaganda.
Navanethem Pillay was Attorney and Conveyancer on the High
Court of South Africa from 1967 to 1995 and was appointed Acting
Judge on the high Court of South Africa in 1995. The first woman
to start a law practice in Natal Province in South Africa in 1967,
she served as an attorney in the practice of law in criminal and
civil courts providing legal defense for opponents to apartheid.
In South Africa she co-founded the Advice Desk for the Abused.
She is also co-founder of Equality Now, an international Women’s
rights organization based in New York.
Ms. Pillay holds a BA and a LLB from Natal University South
Africa. She also holds a Master of Law and is Doctor of Juridical
Science from Harvard University. |
