Kathmandu, April 9 ,, The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has said exercise of human rights has been found to be still challenging in Khotang, Okhaldhunga and Solukhumbu districts. NHRC secretary Ved Bhattarai in a statement stated that a monitoring carried out by the Commission in these districts found that there were still challenges in the use of human rights by the citizens in these districts as they were found to be deprived of state services and facilities.
A team comprising Bhattarai had conducted a monitoring of the human rights situation, the status of human rights defenders and the situation of caste discrimination and practice of untouchability in the three districts from March 31 through April 5. The team also had held discussion on these topics with the stakeholders in the districts. It is stated that in course of the monitoring the team found that the older citizens were not getting the 50 per cent concession in the transportation fare in public transport and that they were subjected to indecent behaviour.
Similarly, caste discrimination in the form of practice of untouchability was still prevalent especially against the people belonging to the dalit communities and there was disparity in the wages between men and women as the latter were paid lower wages. Likewise, children and the general public were still deprived of the right to health, a basic right; the agriculture profession of the farmers was in crisis due to wild animals (monkeys and bear); the incidents of suicide were on the rise due to domestic violence and mental torture as well as condition of abject poverty; the youths were migrating out due to lack of employment opportunities; the elderly people were facing difficulty in leading their life and the incidents of family break-up were found to have increased, in course of the monitoring, the statement reads.
Secretary Bhattarai said the journalists were finding it difficult to exercise their right to freedom of expression as the situation was not conducive for them to write without fear on issues as corruption and lack of rule of law. The NHRC has through the statement urged the government to render the services and facilities provided by the state to the citizens in a smooth and accessible manner, to ensure that there is equal wage for equal work, to maintain gender equality, to abolish the caste discrimination, to protect the rights of the older persons and farmers and to guarantee the right to employment. —