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Home » Constitution Design » Questions for constitution makers in Nepal » Human Rights

How do human rights provisions in a Constitution work?


Many constitutions these days have human rights provisions in a prominent place. But how can these words on paper affect the lives of citizens and protect their rights?

A constitution is a political document as well as a law. Leaders, public servants and political parties should be aware of the rights of citizens and should make efforts to ensue that in all their actions and plans they include respect for those rights. Sometimes this process of interesting rights into activities is called "mainstreaming human rights". Citizens should also be conscious of their rights and demand that their rights are respected. Why vote for a politician who does not respect rights?

One way for a government to integrate rights into its activities is to develop a national Human Rights Action Plan. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has a Handbook on how to prepare such an action plan – click here for this. And you can read Nepal National Human Rights Action Plan 2004, a project supported by UNDP.

But it may be necessary for citizens to turn to some body with the power to enforce the rights. Bodies with these powers include courts and human rights commissions. (You can read a UN Factsheet National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights).

Human Rights Commissions usually have the power to receive complaints from citizens about human rights violations. They may also be able to carry out investigations on their own initiative. The exact powers, make-up and responsibilities of human rights commissions vary. Some of them can actually award compensation. Some can just make comments on abuses. Some can take cases to court. You can read about the Nepal Human Rights Commission on its website.

It is important that Human Rights commissions are independent from government and have adequate resources and powers to carry out their responsibilities. There is a set of international principles called the Paris Principles, available for example on the website of the Asia Pacific Forum of Human Rights Institutions. There is a simple version (prepared for children) at http://www.crin.org/docs/paris_principles_cf.doc.

Courts

The final authority for the enforcement of rights, under a constitution or elsewhere, is the courts. The Interim Constitution of Nepal guarantees the right to go to court to enforce human rights. A few comments need to be made about this right:

  • Only Nepal citizens can claim that a law is unconstitutional on the grounds that it is against human rights. This is an undesirable limitation

  • But there is no such limitation for the enforcement of rights in other situations

  • Going to court is not cheap, however, and also the courts tend to be rather intimidating for many people.

There have been many cases before the courts of Nepal to enforce human rights. You can, for example, find some information about cases affecting women here.

You can find some more information about courts and the legal system of Nepal on this website.
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