8 July, 2022
Kathmandu,
JuRI Nepal in collaboration with International Commission of Jurist (ICJ), Advocacy Forum (AF) and Human Rights and Justice Centre (HRJC) organized a National Dialogue on Public Interest Litigation (PIL): Achievement, Challenges and Way forward as well as Strategic Litigation Hand Book Launching program in Kathmandu on 8 July 2022. Hon. Ishwor Prasad Khatiwada, Supreme Court Justice attended as the special guest. As a special guest, he delivered his remarks highlighting the importance of PIL on the legal development of Nepal. Senior advocate Gopalkrishna Ghimire, Chairperson, Nepal Bar Association and Dr. Sashi Adhikari Raut, Professor, Nepal Law College as special guests of the program also shared their remarks on importance of PIL, its achievement for the protection and promotion of fundamental rights of Nepalese citizen. . This program was represented by CSOs/human rights activists, lawyers and development professionals including govt. representatives etc. Advocate Raju Prasad Chapagai presented the paper focusing on PIL issues, challenges and way forward. Senior Advocates, Government Attorney, Lawyers and Human Rights Experts also took part in the discussion and highlighted about importance of PIL in Nepalese context. A comprehensive publication on Strategic PIL published by JuRI-Nepal with the support from ICJ was lunched prior to the dialogue program. Hon. Judge, Ishwor Prasad Khatiwada, Senior Advocate Gopalkrishna Ghimire and Prof. Dr. Sashi Adhikary Raut and Advocate Shyam Kumar Bishwakarma, Chairperson of JuRI Nepal jointly released the handbook. This event was attended by 62 participants.
The publication incorporated five different chapters including background as the first chapter, basic concept of human rights law as the second chapter. Third chapter is focused on conceptual aspects of strategic litigation and Nepalese context, forth chapter focuses on practical aspects of strategic litigation, fifth chapter covers fundamental knowledge of writ jurisdictions in our context and annex part is covered by sample cases and litigations representing to various issues and areas initiated by human rights experts and landmark judgments of the Supreme Court of Nepal. The handbook is more useful to newly practicing lawyers and other legal professionals to be consulted for the advocacy related activities promoting and ensuring the rights of marginalized communities, equality, and access to justice and inclusion. Former Chief Justice Hon’ble Kalyan Shrestha and Senior Advocate Purna Man Shakya also have shared their message in the foreword of this book. This is second version of publication. First publication was joined by FOHRID with the support from ICJ. Advocates Raju Pd. Chapagai, Shyam Kumar Bishwakarma and Nirajan Thapaliya have contributed to finalize this handbook in coordination with JuRI-Nepal and ICJ.