Tag: Housing

Joint submission on the human rights situation of Indigenous Newa communities made to the UN for the 4th Universal Periodic Review of Nepal

July 18, 2025

Community Empowerment and Social Justice Network (CEMSOJ), Save Nepa Valley (SNV) Movement and Thāe Bāe Yā Lwāpu made a joint submission for the 4th Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Nepal. The UPR is a unique process which involves a review of the human rights records of all UN Member States and is held under the auspices of the UN Human Rights Council. The submission presents key human rights challenges faced by indigenous Newa communities, particularly in the context of “development” and business projects in Nepal and the systematic violations of rights to housing and property as well as cultural rights of the Jugi community within the Indigenous Newa nationality of Nepal. It  also  examines the compliance of the Government of Nepal with relevant recommendations received during the 3rd and 2nd UPR cycles of Nepal related to the rights of Newa and other Indigenous nationalities.

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Indigenous Newar communities in Khokana and Bungamati call for follow-up actions from UN experts in Geneva to protect their rights threatened by the construction of Fast Track Expressway and other infrastructure projects

July 10, 2022

10 July 2022, Kathmandu

Indigenous Newar communities – affected by the Kathmandu-Terai/Madhesh Fast Track (Expressway) Project and other ongoing or planned infrastructure and urbanization projects in historical settlements of Khokana and Bungamati in the south of Nepal’s capital city, Kathmandu – have called on four UN mechanisms in Geneva to take follow up actions for safeguarding their rights against the continued serious threats of displacement of the communities, violations of their land and resource rights as well as cultural rights and other impacts on them due to the ill-planned projects.

In separate letters emailed today to the UN Special Rapporteurs on the rights of indigenous peoples, on the right to adequate housing and on the situation of human rights defenders as well as the Working Group on business and human rights, two local groups (Janasarokar Samiti of Khokana and Bungamati) representing the affected communities have urged the UN mechanisms to jointly examine the information submitted and undertake follow up correspondence with the Government of Nepal to protect and promote the rights of the indigenous communities in the context of those projects. As stated in the letters, besides the Fast Track Expressway, other ongoing or planned projects, including Bagmati River Basin Improvement Project (Bagmati Corridor), Kathmandu Outer Ring Road and Thankot-Bhaktapur Transmission Line Project and one of the four “Smart Cities” proposed in Kathmandu valley, will entirely displace the indigenous communities from the historical settlements. Asian Development Bank has directly or indirectly supported many of those projects.

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Nepal’s govt ignores UN experts’ letters concerning alleged violations of indigenous Newar rights in the construction of the Kathmandu-Terai/Madhesh Fast Track Expressway and of the Chhaya Center business complex

May 30, 2021

On 30 March 2021, UN experts sent a letter to the Government of Nepal regarding alleged violations of the rights of indigenous Newar peoples over their lands, resources and over the loss of religious and cultural sites in the context of the construction of the Terai/Madhesh FastTrack Expressway and the construction of the Chhaya Center business complex in the tourist district of Thamel in Kathmandu.

The Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises; and three Special Rapporteurs on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, on the situation of human rights defenders and on the rights of indigenous peoples of the UN had sent the letter requesting a response from the government. However, the government has disgracefully ignored the letter and not sent any reply even within the period of 60 days as provided in the letter.

The allegation letter is available at the link https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=26282.

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