Human Rights Protection and Policing in Nepal

The manual presents a compilation of the most important international and national legal standards for the Nepal Police. In this way, it provides a concrete assessment of the practical implementation of human rights standards in the Nepal Police with reference to the period 2019-2020. It promotes the facilitation of an effective and sustainable police work. The manual is intended to encourage the establishment of structures based on the rule of law which guarantee citizens the recognition of their rights by state institutions and beyond that reliably ensure that the authorities and courts are bound by human rights.

In order to guarantee such a comprehensive and thorough protection of human rights in Nepal police work, Nepal's national law has to be in conformity with international conventions and treaties that are binding upon the country, as well as declarations that are binding under international law. Therefore, the national law is measured against the principles and policies of the United Nations that are applicable for police work on the basis of the "International Human Rights Standards for Law Enforcement - A Pocket Book on Human Rights for the Police", which is designed as an easily accessible and portable reference work for police officers.

The present study represents the contribution of the University of Passau to the project "Criminalization of Torture and Enforced Disappearance in a Federal Nepal" (April 2019 to December 2020), funded by the German Federal Foreign Office. In addition to the Research Center Human Rights in Criminal Proceedings (HRCP) of the University of Passau (Germany), the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) as well as the NGOs Advocacy Forum and Terai Human Rights Defenders Alliance (THRDA) were involved as partners in the project.