Kathmandu, April 8: Civil society leaders have urged the stakeholders to remain alert with risks over civic rights infringement in course of the constitution amendment.
At a programme ‘Role of NGOs for Social Justice, Transparency and Accountability’ organized here today by the Federation of Democratic NGOs Nepal (FEDEN), they urged stakeholders to keep vigilance on possible shrinking of citizens’ fundamental rights in the context of the process of amending the constitution.
The CSO leaders express doubt over possible infringement of rights to freedom, equality, justice, rights of women and Dalits, rights of children, rights to social justice, and rights related to social security in the name of constitutional amendment.
The ‘Constitution Amendment Discussion Paper Preparation Working Group-2082,’ formed under the coordination of Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s chief political advisor Asim Sah, has already started its work. Women’s rights activist Krishna Kumari Waiba stated that women’s rights should be fully realized through the constitutional amendment.
Advocate Krishna Nuepane emphasized the need for full implementation of the constitution. Rights activist Narayan Giri demanded that the rights enshrined in Article 17 of the Constitution regarding the ‘freedom to establish federations and organizations’ be kept intact during the amendment process.
Chair of the Child NGO Federation Vijay Lama requested the government to fully implement the rights of children specified in Article 39 of the Constitution. Chair of FEDEN Dilliram Giri said that all rights activists should unite to protect citizens’ constitutional rights.
