Rights at risk: the battle for Indigenous identity and autonomy in Nepal

Indigenous Peoples in Nepal – Struggling for Rights, Resources and Representation
Nepal officially recognizes 59 ethnic groups as Indigenous Peoples (legally termed Indigenous Nationalities or Adivasi Janajati). Recently, two more groups received recognition, bringing the total to 61[1]. Informal analysis of the 2021 census estimates the Indigenous population at around 10 million—at least 35 per cent[2] of the national population—a slight decrease from approximately 36 per cent (8.5 million people) in the 2011[3] census. However, Indigenous organizations argue that the actual figure is closer to 50 per cent.
 
The Indigenous population would likely be higher than official estimates if groups currently seeking recognition were included. Despite sharing characteristics with recognized Indigenous groups, many smaller communities remain unrecognized due to a lack of clarity in government criteria[4]. Recognized or not, Indigenous Peoples in Nepal face significant challenges to their rights, resources, and representation, even though Nepal is bound by international human rights instruments such as the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention (No. 169) of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
 
Historical Marginalisation and Current Struggles 
Despite constituting a significant proportion of the population, Indigenous Peoples have been oppressed and marginalized throughout the history of formation of modern State of Nepal through Gorkha conquest under Shah Kings. They have been continuously dispossessed of and displaced from their lands, territories and resources in the course of State-building or in the name of development or conservation, including through militarization with the deployment and violent use of army, police and other State security forces. They have been denied or faced discrimination in political and economic opportunities and lack of access to social services such as education, health, etc. while they have also been forced to assimilate in the Hindu-dominated political, cultural, social and religious systems resulting in the loss of their languages, customs and cultures.
 
Sacred Lands Under Siege 
More recently, Indigenous communities across Nepal have been increasingly putting up struggles against a myriad of human rights challenges they face. In a representative case, efforts are ongoing for encroachment of sacred site of Mukkumlung (assimilated as Pathibhara in Hinduism) and surrounding forest resources of Indigenous Yakthungs (Limbus) in eastern hills of Nepal for forced construction of a commercial cable car project. That has led to clashes of the communities with the security forces and within the communities promoted by elected representatives driven by political and financial interests.[5]
 
Legal Battles and International Advocacy 
In another case, imminent mass-scale displacement of Indigenous Newar communities in south of Kathmandu for construction of Fast Track Expressway and other infrastructure projects proposed/planned in historical towns of Khokana and Bungamati has pitted the communities in continued litigation, on-the-ground opposition and international advocacy against those projects for more than a decade now.[6]
 
Indigenous communities in Nepal when faced with human rights challenges often have to leverage international pressure such as through the United Nations human rights mechanisms or multilateral development banks to advocate for their rights. That is because although Nepal recognizes Indigenous Peoples, their rights, including to their lands, territories and resources, to FPIC and to self-determination, are not protected in national laws despite its commitments to international human rights laws, including the ILO Convention 169 and the UNDRIP. Thus, even though it is a long and cumbersome battle to advocate for rights through those international mechanisms, Indigenous communities are left with little choice with inadequate domestic legal framework and mechanisms.
 
Stigmatization and Judicial Harassment 
At the same time, when Indigenous communities and their defenders assert their rights to their lands and resources against harmful projects by government and businesses, they are stigmatized as being anti-development, ethnically motivated and even anti-national. They are targeted for judicial harassment or other forms of reprisals while restrictive laws and policies are being imposed to limit civic space and fundamental freedoms. For example, Nepal’s government has made the process of registering and operating non-governmental or non-profit entities increasingly burdensome. They are required to get approvals at local and federal government entities for any activity, particularly under foreign grant. For that, they even have to pay considerable portion of their grant as monitoring fees at the federal entity or as meeting allowances to the government representatives. On the other hand, such approval process and monitoring by the authorities bring unnecessary scrutiny on the works of the non-governmental entities. This becomes particularly challenging for Indigenous defenders and their organizations who are often supporting communities affected by so-called projects of national pride with limited resources.
 
Innovative Strategies for Rights Recognition 
Despite challenges with shrinking civic space that disproportionately impacts Indigenous and other marginalized communities and their defenders in Nepal, some Indigenous communities in Nepal are using bottom up and innovative strategies to promote and protect their rights, including to resources. For example, Indigenous Magar and other communities in western Nepal, whose lands will be inundated due to Tanahu Hydropower Project co-financed by Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Investment Bank (EIB) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), have filed complaints with the Independent Accountability Mechanisms of the ADB and the EIB calling for land for land replacement of their farmlands and communal lands that will be impacted as well as respect for their FPIC in the project processes affecting them, as their calls fell on deaf ears of the national authorities. They have been engaged in dispute resolution processes facilitated by the mechanisms, whereby the project promoter has been pushed to devise an action plan action plan regarding potential replacement for individual lands and legal recognition of rights over communal lands.[7]
 
Further, Indigenous Peoples and their organizations have continuously lobbied for constitutional reforms to promote a pluralistic governance within a federal structure with provinces delineated along ancestral territories of Indigenous Peoples, since the adoption of the current 2015 constitution. At the same time, some Indigenous communities are enhancing recognition of their resource management systems and some strengthening their self-governance institutions within the current constitutional framework, particularly at the level of local governments. For instance, Indigenous Tsum Nubri community in western Nepal has won legal recognition for its traditional institution, shagya, from the local municipality to govern forest and other resources within the community.[8] Similarly, Indigenous Tharus in far-western Nepal has gotten their local governments to adopt laws to recognize their traditional Badhgar system of village governance in local governance to maintain their cultural and legal autonomy within the current State structure to some extent.[9]
 
The Path Forward 
Nonetheless, the root of the continuing challenges for the rights of Indigenous Peoples in Nepal remain that the rights guaranteed in international framework applicable to Nepal have not been incorporated in domestic laws. Even limited existing legal protections for the rights of Indigenous Peoples have not been effectively implemented due to lack of political will by leaders or vested interests of those in power belonging to dominant groups while Indigenous Peoples are excluded from decision-making processes affecting them. In order to strengthen its democracy, Nepal should immediately adopt a law to promote and protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples, including to their lands and resources and self-governance, in line with its obligations under the UNDRIP and ILO Convention 169.
  
This article is the first in a series of guest pieces from Indigenous advocates across Asia and the Pacific. Follow International IDEA’s #DemocracyForAll campaign throughout 2025.
 
Learn more about International IDEA’s Nepal programme and the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in Constitutions Assessment Tool. 
 
  
[1] The Government of Nepal officially recognized Rana Tharu in 2020 and Humlo as Indigenous nationalities in 2020 and 2024 respectively. 
[2] Minority Rights Group, 2024, Nepal. 
[3] Government of Nepal, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, 2020, Indigenous Peoples Policy Framework. 
[4] Human Rights Council, 2009, Report by the Special Rapporteur.
[5] Mukkumlung - the sacred lands. 
[6] NO fast track in Khokana and Bungamati.
[7] Tanahu Hydropower Project.
[8] Indigenous community in Nepal wins recognition. 
[9] Indigenous Peoples’ Experiences of Autonomy.