ICC Note:

Nepal formally adopted its new constitution on Sunday, ending almost a decade of living in political limbo. Many across Nepal celebrated the achievement, but for many of Nepal’s religious and ethnic minorities, the new constitution also represents potential persecution and abuse. Within the text of the constitution, many Christians are concerned about the anti-conversion language they expect will be used to limit religious freedom. Also, following a vote that rejected declaring Nepal a Hindu nation, several churches were attacked, likely by Hindu radicals. Police have placed guards over many church leaders in Nepal until hostilities subside. 

9/22/2015 Nepal (World Magazine) – After almost a decade of political limbo, Nepal formally adopted its new constitution on Sunday, providing the Himalayan nation with its first complete governmental framework since the monarchy toppled in 2008. Amid fireworks, balloons, and congratulatory banners in the capital, Kathmandu, President Ram Baran Yadav signed the charter and made the proclamation announcement to roaring applause.

“We believe that the adoption of the new constitution has now opened the path for development of the country,” he told the Constituent Assembly.

The charter declares Nepal a secular federation, and slices the nation into seven states, each with its own prime minister and legislature. The constitution won landslide approval from the Nepali government, and is viewed as a symbol of progress and modernization.

“The people have achieved a republican nation that they have aspired to for decades,” said Foreign Minister Mahendra Bahadur Pandey.

But not all Nepalese are happy with the new political order. Christians fear the document’s ban on conversion, if enforced, will snuff out religious liberty entirely. And some in the Hindu majority are angry the document did not make Nepal an explicitly Hindu nation. They used protests over the constitution’s secularism as an excuse to bomb two churches and attack another. Some Christian pastors are being placed under police protection and advised to stay home until the hostility subsides.

On the other hand, Nepal’s homosexual demographic lauds the constitution, which, according to the BBC, includes articles giving the gay and transgender community broader freedom to participate in the legislature. “This constitution ensures our identity, rights, participation, and inclusion; a better path ahead for Nepalese LGBTs,” said gay rights activist Sunil Pant.

In contrast to the pomp and circumstance in Kathmandu, protests sparked riots elsewhere in the nation. On Sunday, local police said one demonstrator was killed in clashes between officers and protesters in southern Nepal. In recent weeks, violent protests among the Tharu and Madhesi ethnic groups left at least 45 dead. Food and cargo transport from the breadbasket south to Kathmandu remains largely bottlenecked as Nepali police tightened security and imposed a curfew amid blockades and bloodshed.

Nepal’s ethnic minorities say lawmakers ignored their concerns over state borderlines. They claim the new boundaries intentionally divide and weaken ethnic minorities like the Tharu and Madhesi.

Nepal is home to more than 100 ethnic groups, and some say the new constitution still limits their representation. Hinduism is the majority religion in Nepal, though many inhabitants practice a fusion of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs. Christians make up less than 1.5 percent of Nepal’s population of 28 million.

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