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	Nepal: Important verdict on caste-based discrimination by UN News / HREA   21 March 2010   The United Nations human rights office in Nepal today welcomed a key judgment handed down in a case involving discrimination on the basis of caste, hailing it as an important step forward in the fight against discrimination in the Asian nation.   Earlier this month, the District Court in Baitadi, in western Nepal, found a man guilty of physically assaulting the father of the groom during a wedding ceremony in July 2009 for practicing rituals “reserved for high-caste communities.” The accused was sentenced to one year in prison and fined 5,000 rupees.   In a similar case in January, the same court issued a verdict, sentencing the main perpetrator behind attacks against 12 Dalits – or so-called “untouchables” – for not following discriminatory rituals at a temple to two years in prison and a fine of 25,000 rupees.   In a joint statement issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal (OHCHR-Nepal), the National Dalit Commission (NDC) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the three organizations said that the verdicts are in accordance with international law.   They are also in line with article 14 of Nepal"s Interim Constitution, which says that racial discrimination are punishable and that victims are entitled to compensation, the statement said.   Referring to both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Baitadi court stressed that “discrimination based on the principle of caste supremacy is morally unacceptable, socially unjust and dangerous.”   But the three organizations expressed their deep concern that the man found guilty of assaulting the groom"s father last July has since been nominated for a public position in the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works in Kanchanpur in western Nepal.   “The NDC, NHRC and OHCHR urge the authorities to abide by the verdict regarding the above appointment, to enforce both sentences without delay and to undertake specific measures to promote social awareness on the issue of caste-base discrimination,” according to today"s statement. Visit the related web page
	Operationalizing a Business and Human Rights Framework by John Ruggie UN Human Rights Council / Policy Innovations   Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises.   Business and Human Rights: Further steps toward the operationalization of the "protect, respect and remedy" framework.   In its resolution 8/7, adopted on 18 June 2008, the Human Rights Council was unanimous in welcoming the "protect, respect and remedy" policy framework (now widely referred to as "the United Nations framework") that the Special Representative proposed for better managing business and human rights challenges. It rests on three pillars: the State duty to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, including business, through appropriate policies, regulation, and adjudication; the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, which means to act with due diligence to avoid infringing on the rights of others; and greater access by victims to effective remedy, judicial and non-judicial.   From the outset, the Special Representative has maintained that the widening gaps between the scope and impact of economic forces and actors, and the capacity of societies to manage their adverse consequences, were unsustainable.   These governance gaps, he has observed, "provide the permissive environment for wrongful acts by companies of all kinds without adequate sanctioning or reparation."   The framework is intended to help close those gaps. Its three pillars are distinct yet complementary. The State duty to protect and the corporate responsibility to respect exist independently of one another, and preventative measures differ from remedial ones. Yet, all are intended to be mutually reinforcing parts of a dynamic, interactive system to advance the enjoyment of human rights.   The Council extended the Special Representative"s mandate until 2011, with two main tasks: "operationalizing" the framework, i.e., providing concrete guidance and recommendations to States, businesses and other actors on the practical meaning and implications of the three pillars and their interrelationships; and "promoting" the framework, coordinating with relevant international and regional organizations and other stakeholders. Visit the related web page
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