Indigenous experts and activists on Friday said that government and private entities in Nepal violated the rights of indigenous peoples over land, territories and natural resources in planned manner by making laws, policies and programs so as by undertaking them as national priority programs in their land and territories.
They stated this speaking in the program titled "Rising Awareness about Indigenous Peoples Land Rights through the use of audio visuals materials in Nepal" organized by Indigenous Film Archive (IFA) among the indigenous film makers in Kathmandu on Friday.
Presenting the paper, Indigenous Rights Activist and expert Dr. Krishna Bahadur Bhattachan said that the interrelationship between indigenous peoples and the land, territories and natural resources is not merely for livelihood, but has the basis of spiritual, social, cultural and identity. But lately, in the name of national priority programs such as declaration of national parks, preserved areas, the government has taken away all the land, territories and natural resources of indigenous peoples, resulting majority of indigenous peoples landless in Nepal.
He also said that in such a situation, indigenous peoples need to use United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and ILO Convention 169 and its provisions as a legal weapon to reclaim lost lands. Towards this end, indigenous film makers and indigenous journalists have role to document such grave violation of human rights and disseminate them massively.
Similar to Dr. Bhattachan, speaking on the occasion, indigenous activists and indigenous film makers expressed commitment to document such grave human rights violation from their part.
