On the occasion of the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and LAHURNIP jointly organized a national dialogue on indigenous rights and SDGs on 11 August 2022.
The dialogue was to suggest the indicators that were developed from the perspective of Indigenous Peoples to include in the national development plan as the National Planning Commission (NPC) is revising the national indicators considering the adverse impact of COVID-19.
A comprehensive study has been carried out by NHRC and LAHURNIP on the relevance of existing indicators for monitoring progress in achieving SDG targets with reference to Indigenous rights. The study has examined SDG progress indicators and their relevance in the context of Indigenous Peoples and defined appropriate indicators that represent the contemporary lived experiences or realities of indigenous peoples for the incorporation in the National Indicators Framework.
Mr. Nava Raj Sapkota, Joint Secretary of the NHRC and Advocate Manoj Atpahrayia from LAHURNP brought the indicators and Indigenous Navigator into discussion on how the NPC can include them in the national development plan.
The Government of Nepal has articulated its commitment of “leaving no one behind” by reaching the farthest behind first and fulfilling the constitutional mandate, non-discrimination, and social or distributive justice. For this, NPC has to incorporate the indicators as suggested by the study to address the Indigenous Peoples' development aspirations, said Mr. Top Bahadur Magar, Hon'ble chairperson of NHRC.
Members of Indigenous Nationalities Commission, Tharu Commission, Language Commission, National Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities, NPC, Indigenous women organizations, organization of Indigenous person with disability, indigenous journalists, Office of the Prime Minister & Council of Ministers, Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, Indigenous leaders and experts participated the dialogue.
The participants provided invaluable feedback on the presentations and NPC representatives have shown commitment to consider the dialogue suggestion to include the national development planning framework.
