KATHMANDU, Jan 12: The government of Nepal is most likely to say “no” to an offer from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to set up its South and West Asia regional office in Kathmandu. [break]
Though the government hasn’t yet sent an official response to the request from the UN rights body, senior Foreign Ministry officials said Nepal is most likely to say “no” because of “sensitivities of our regional friends”.
When contacted, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Suresh Pradhan just said without elaborating: “We are not in favor of sending our (official) response at the moment.”
Since the OHCHR sent the request through Nepal`s ambassador to the UN in Geneva about four months ago, there have been at least two follow-ups by the UN agency – one each in Kathmandu and Geneva. In one of the meetings between the ministry and OHCHR officials last month, the government officials told the UN body that “the proposal is to be seen in the regional context and contains extreme regional sensitivities”.
One of the ministry officials told myrepublica.com, preferring anonymity, that all the countries in South Asia are not positive about hosting the UN regional office. “Having it in the country does in no way improve the image or human rights situation,” the official said.
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In an interview with myrepublica.com last month, OHCHR representative in Nepal, Richard Bennett, had said there is “at least one other country” in South Asia which has expressed interest to host the regional office, without naming the country. Bennett had also said “Nepal is currently favored, but not the only country” for the office.
India and Pakistan have been negative about Nepal hosting the office in Kathmandu, according to a senior government official.
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Maldives have already said “no” to host the office. India, in particular, doesn’t want to see the office in any of its neighbors. India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka don´t want to see the UN human rights office anywhere in the region because if will closely scrutinize human rights violations in their countries too.
With the opening of the UN Regional Center for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, which oversees 43 countries in the region, in Kathmandu on August 18 this year, Nepal now has three UN regional offices. Other two South Asia-level regional offices of the UN operating out of Kathmandu are UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and UN Children`s Fund (UNICEF).
Currently, OHCHR has eight regional offices, covering East Africa (Addis Ababa), Southern Africa (Pretoria), Central Africa (Cameroon), Central America (Panama City), Latin America (Santiago de Chile), South East Asia (Bangkok), the Middle East (Beirut), and the Pacific (Suva).
“Regional offices have a crucial role in promoting and protecting human rights in countries of their region, including by working with regional bodies,” OHCHR said in its website.
tilak@myrepublica.com
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