Kathmandu: The United States of America has said that human rights situation of Nepal has not changed. “There were no significant changes in the human rights situation in Nepal in the past year,” the 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights, published by the US Department of State, states.
The State Department has pointed out various issues as lapses on part of Nepal in respect of human rights. Those issues include arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings, torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government, arbitrary detention, serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media, including violence or threats of violence against journalists and unjustified arrests of journalists, among others. Likewise, the report also mentions substantial interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association, including overly restrictive laws on the organization, funding, and operation of nongovernmental organizations and civil society organizations, restrictions on freedom of movement for refugees, notably resident Tibetans, serious government corruption, extensive gender-based violence, including domestic or intimate partner violence, sexual violence, workplace violence, child, early, and forced marriage, and other forms of such violence and crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex persons as significant human rights issues existing in Nepal in 2023.
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