About Us

Human Rights Treaty Monitoring Coordination Center (HRTMCC) is a coalition of human rights organizations established to monitor the implementation of the international human rights treaties ratified by Nepal. Currently, it has 65 members working in almost all areas of human rights, including civil and political rights; economic, social and cultural rights; rights of women; rights of children; dalit rights; the rights of migrants and the rights of persons with disabilities.

HRTMCC was established in September 2003 through a consultation in Kathmandu to build stronger human rights forum for all major human rights NGOs in Nepal and to create a human rights network to address the situation collectively towards making the state accountable to its international human rights obligations and the non-state actors accountable to international human rights and humanitarian laws.

Since its inception, HRTMCC, under the motto of “Human Rights Treaty Monitoring through an Alliance of Human Rights NGOs”, coordinates monitoring and dissemination of information on the status of state obligations to UN human rights treaties nationally and internationally in the form of alternative reports as well as other publications.

HRTMCC is also active in domestic lobbying for the protection and promotion of human rights, dissemination of authentic and credible account of human rights laws and dissemination of concluding recommendations of the treaty bodies. In addition, the coalition is also campaigning for the ratification, domestication and enforcement of international human rights instruments.

Vision

HRTMCC is committed to function as a democratic alliance of all major human rights organizations of Nepal to protect and promote human rights with collective efforts from the civil society organizations and state institutions.

Mission

HRTMCC, as a joint forum for all major human rights NGOs, undertakes joint initiatives for the implementation of international obligations of the state through alternative reports, fact findings, treaty ratification and enforcement campaigns.

Goal and Objectives

The UN has recognized the contributory role of NGOs for protection and promotion of human rights. The concerned committee gives importance to the reports sent by the NGOs and civil society while observing and evaluating the reports sent by the state. Therefore, the HRTMCC is formed:

  • To prepare alternative and shadow reports for the UN Human Rights Treaty Committees.
  • To function as a joint forum for all major HR NGOs in Nepal by coordinating human rights monitoring and disseminating human rights information nationally and internationally.
  • To produce and disseminate authentic and reliable documentation on human rights situation of Nepal.
  • To further strengthen cooperation between Nepalese HR NGOs by issuing joint statements, recommendations for joint actions and developing common lobbying strategies.
  • To pressurize the government to fulfil its reporting obligations including implementation of the concluding observations sent by the UN Committees in the involvement of civil society organizations.

Strategic approaches

HRTMCC’s strategic approaches involve:

AllianceBuilding

Alliance building lies at the heart of the HRTMCC strategy. The foundation of HRTMCC was a response to the need for an alliance of human rights organizations to engage collectively in the work of treaty monitoring and reporting. Working through an alliance helps avoid duplication in work, corrects deficiencies in broadness of representation and establishes a common voice of truth as there are no variations in opinions and analysis from the same community. Being an alliance in itself, HRTMCC works closely with other national and international alliances and networks. 

Advocacy

The work of HRTMCC focuses on advocacy at local, national and international levels on the implementation of international obligation of the state. It has built a strong mechanism for local and national level advocacy by engaging both members and non-member organizations, such as media and lawyers groups.

Shadow Reporting

Shadow reporting is the main locus of the HRTMCC activities, as well as its institutional identity. All its approaches and activities ultimately feed into alternative report preparation and submission to the concerned UN treaty committee. The shadow reports and the response they generate at the international level are used as a tool to pressurize the government for initiating measures necessary for the protection and promotion of human rights of the people within its jurisdiction.

Capacity Building

HRTMCC also gives emphasis on the capacity building of NGO activists, particularly of those aligned to the HRTMCC committees. Capacity building initiatives aim to enhance skills in the areas of fact findings, documentation, reporting, and lobbying and advocacy.