The Nepal Weekly 
December 13, 2022
Human Rights Day is celebrated every 10 December to create awareness and mobilize political will to promote respect for the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by United Nations General Assembly in 1948.
The 2022 Theme of Human Rights Day is Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for All. Both the Declaration and WHO’s Constitution assert that health is a fundamental human right for all people.
There can be no dignity, freedom and justice without health for all. The right to health is about ensuring that everyone, everywhere can access affordable, quality healthcare. It is also dependent upon gender equality and the realization of other human rights including, food, education, housing and access to safe water and sanitation.
Everyone is entitled to the right to health regardless of race, colour, sex, language, gender, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, geographical location, religion, political or other opinion, nationality or social origin, property, socioeconomic or other status.
The right to health means the right to control one’s health and body, including the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls, without interference. Violence, including gender-based violence, is always a violation of the right to health and can have serious health consequences on the lives of women and children.
The right to health means leaving no one behind. This means that all persons should have access to health services without discrimination, including on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.
The right to health means ending discrimination in all settings. This means supporting national and local authorities in addressing racial discrimination and related health inequalities. This work includes integrating human rights, equity, gender responsive and intercultural approaches to guide public health policies and ensure that communities experiencing racial discrimination have access to comprehensive, culturally appropriate and quality health services.
As a responsible and leading entity, WHO works with countries and partners to support the realization of the right to health. This work requires a comprehensive approach to identify who is being left behind and why; effective measures to address root causes; monitoring and measuring progress; and accountability. WHO takes an intersectional approach to integrating health-related human rights across its programmes. This involves addressing overlapping layers of inequality and discrimination, and their root causes.
National Human Rights Commission Nepal organized and celebrated 74th International Human Rights Day at NHRC Premises at Lalitpur on 10 December 2022.
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was the chief guest of the event chairperson of the commission Tapa Bahadur Magar, UN Resident Representative of UNDP and Representative of UN resident coordinator office of Nepal, Ayshanie Labe, chairperson of NGO Federation of Nepal Ram Prasad Subedi, Manju Gurung, Dr. Shashi Adhikari spoke on the importance of human rights in Nepal’s context. Member of the commission Lily Thapa welcomed delivered the welcome remarks.
On the occasion Late Dayaram Pariyar Award was given to Dr. Gaurishankar Lal Das and Human Rights Award 2079 was given to Pratima Gurung.
