KATHMANDU, Sept 14: The State Restructuring Committee of the Constituent Assembly (CA) on Monday decided to vest the federal units with the right to self-determination, but the committee stated that the right to self-determination doesn´t mean right to secession. [break]
The provision on right to self-determination to be enshrined in the new constitution had remained a contentious issue in Nepal with some CA members indirectly defining the term as the right to secession.
The Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN), an organization advocating the right to self-determination, has welcomed the CA committee´s decision. "We had been demanding the right to self-determination as defined by the UN, and the committee has taken its decision accordingly. So we welcome it”, said NEFIN president Pasang Sherpa, who is also a CA member.
The CA committee had formed a subcommittee led by Maoist CA member Hitman Shakya to settle the issue and present its report to the committee. The subcommittee presented its report at the committee meeting on Monday defining right to self-determination not as the right to secession, and committee members unanimously approved the decision through a voice vote.
The provision passed by the committee states: "National sovereignty, autonomy, unity and territorial integrity should be embraced while exercising the right to self-determination”. It also says that the provinces, especially the protected zones and local governments will exercise the right to self-determination within the Nepalese context as per the constitution and the laws.
According to the provision, the federal units can exercise political, cultural and religious rights as well as manage information and technology, health, human settlement, employment, social welfare, economic activities, commerce, land and mobilization of resources, and environmental issues. The federal units can exercise the right to self-determination in the form of autonomy and self-governance and manage financial resources to conduct their activities, the provision states.
Speaking at the committee meeting, committee member Jaya Prakash Gupta, who is also co-chair of the Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (MPRF), welcomed the decision and said that while others have been accusing his party (MPRF) of being a separatist party, his support for the committee´s decision has proven them wrong.
With the discussion on right to self-determination over, the committee now has other crucial issues at hand: Special privileges for ethnic groups; names, number and delineation of provinces; and residual power.
The political parties other than the UCPN (Maoist) are yet to present their federal models to the committee. The deadline set by the committee is expiring for the third time Wednesday, but the political parties, mainly the Nepali Congress and the CPN -UML, have stated that they need more time to complete their proposals. The committee will discuss the issue of special privileges for ethnic groups starting from Tuesday.
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