A/HRC/16/23 I. Introduction 1. The continuing fragility of the peace process in Nepal was demonstrated through a year marked by political stalemate. The low point was the failure of the Constituent Assembly to meet the May 2010 deadline to finalize a new constitution. The mandate of the Assembly was thus extended by a further year, until May 2011. The prolonged impasse has meant that a new Prime Minister has not been elected by Parliament more than six months after Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal agreed to stand down, a situation which remained unresolved at the time of submission of the present report, and many important laws remain pending before the Parliament. 2. This has a direct impact on the human rights situation, in particular progress on two of the key long-standing human rights challenges facing Nepal: impunity and discrimination. The present report will examine the institutional, structural and legal challenges regarding both issues. The report also highlights developments which are more encouraging. In its different sections, the report summarizes the activities of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal (OHCHRNepal) to support the promotion and protection of human rights. II. Human rights and political situation 3. The past year has been one of continuing political uncertainty, with a sustained deadlock between the main parties, leading to ongoing tensions and sporadic instances of violence. Of greatest significance were the May 2010 nationwide protests and six-day bandh1 by the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M). The protests were organized to demand the resignation of the Prime Minister and advocate for the establishment of a Government of national unity. They were timed to apply pressure on the Government—the deadline to confirm the new constitution was approaching, raising the possibility that the Constituent Assembly would lose its mandate. Although the initial days of the protests were relatively calm, incidents of violence increased as the bandh continued, and frustration with its effects grew, leading to significant counter-demonstrations, some of which led to violent clashes between rival demonstrators and with the police. UCPN-M called off the protests without having achieved immediate results; however, the Prime Minister tendered his resignation to the President the following month. While there have since been 17 unsuccessful attempts to elect a new Prime Minister, the recent Supreme Court intervention should facilitate the process and will hopefully end the political deadlock. 4. Failure to finalize the new constitution led to a last-minute political deal to extend the Constituent Assembly, and the deadline to draft the new constitution, by one year until May 2011. Although a high-level political task force was recently formed with the aim of resolving contentious issues, progress to date has been minimal. The political deadlock has further hindered the country’s progress on human rights issues central to the peace process: draft bills to establish transitional justice mechanisms remain pending since their submission to Parliament in early 2010, and proposed anti-discrimination laws and new penal and criminal procedure codes have undergone public consultation but have still not been finalized. However, some positive developments have been possible, notably the establishment of the Special Committee Secretariat and adoption of the specific directives in relation to the Maoist Army combatants. 1 A bandh is an imposed shutdown of all businesses, schools, transportation, etc. 3