Amnesty International stated on Tuesday that the Nepalese government has failed to protect the right to housing, which has resulted in homelessness particularly affecting marginalized groups, particularly Dalit and Indigenous peoples. The organization condemned the repeated forced evictions conducted by the Nepalese authorities and urged the government to implement appropriate safeguards to protect citizens’ right to housing in accordance with international law.
The rights group released a report detailing the authorities’ failure to protect the rights of landless individuals and to enforce the Nepalese Constitution and the Right to Housing Act, which were designed to prevent forced evictions and guarantee the right to housing. The report documented cases of forced evictions that took place between 2020 and 2024, significantly affecting Dalit and Indigenous communities. According to Amnesty International’s Nepal director, Nirajan Thapaliya, there is a “gap” between the legal protections outlined in the constitution and the lived reality for vulnerable communities in Nepal, who continue to face the risk of forced evictions without due process and without compensation to help them rebuild their lives elsewhere.
Based on the reported eviction cases, Amnesty International noted significant due process failures from the authorities during these operations. They did not establish human rights safeguards to prevent forced evictions, such as consulting with the affected communities, discussing alternatives to eviction, and providing prior notice. Some evictions were part of development projects in urban areas, while others occurred in conservation areas, including community forests and national parks. Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights requires that States recognize everyone’s right to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families, which includes adequate housing. Amnesty International also highlighted the negative impacts of these eviction operations on affected families, including increased poverty and homelessness among indigenous communities.
Additionally, the rights group explained that the persistence of these forced evictions is attributed to ineffective oversight mechanisms from state institutions and a lack of a regulatory framework that aligns older Nepalese legislation with more recent laws, such as the Right to Housing Act. This misalignment made many of the protective provisions of the Act ineffective. Nirajan Thapaliya urged Nepali authorities to ensure due process during eviction operations and to establish the necessary regulatory framework to protect the right to adequate housing as outlined in national and international legislation.
In 2015, Nepal adopted a new constitution following decades of civil war between Maoist guerrillas and the government. This constitution aimed to achieve peace and realize social transformation by improving the human rights situation in the country, with the right to housing being a central concern. In 2018, in implementation of Article 37 of the constitution, the government enacted the Right to Housing Act to guarantee appropriate housing for every homeless citizen. However, the continued forced evictions run counter to this goal and result in the discrimination and marginalization of vulnerable communities. Amnesty International previously illustrated these issues in a 2019 report, highlighting the inadequacies of the Act in relation to international human rights standards related to the right to adequate housing.
