ILO Country Director for Nepal, Shengjie Li, spoke to Himal Khabarpatrika's Santa Gaha Magar about ILO Convention 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples and the challenges in implementing it in Nepal.
Himal Khabarpatrika: How was it that Nepal became the only country in South Asia to ratify ILO 169? 
Shengjie Li: ILO Convention 169 concerns indigenous people, and 37 per cent of Nepal's population is made up of 59 different groups of indigenous peoples. Not many countries in the world have such indigenous diversity in their population. If you look at the decade-long conflict it is clear that the social exclusion of the indigenous people contributed to the war. This is why ILO promoted the ratification of this Convention for almost a decade and Nepal ratified the Convention in 2007. It is significant that Nepal is the first country to ratify the Convention in the South Asian region, and the second country in the Asia-Pacific region. There are a lot of indigenous people in Myanmar, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Philippines, but those countries haven't ratified the Convention yet. We hope that Nepal can use this Convention as a dialogue tool for the peace-building process.
But how satisfied are you with its implementation?
Ratification of this Convention by Nepal is significant. However effective implementation would be even more significant. It is always the case in Nepal as well as in elsewhere in the developing world that there is a huge difference between two legal framework and practice. ILO has provided technical support in preparing a National Action Plan on the implementation of the Convention. Unfortunately, the Cabinet has not yet endorsed the National Action Plan due to the political uncertainty. But different line ministries have gone ahead with activities, so I think there has been important movement on implementation of the Convention.
What does ILO 169 actually mean in practice for a country like Nepal?
Convention 169 emphasises several fundamental rights which the indigenous peoples should have in the new constitution, for example the right to be consulted and to participate in decision making and implementation. Indigenous peoples have their own traditions, culture and language and if they are not consulted or allowed to participate, these traditions are slowly lost. We need to protect their traditional occupations as well. Normally, people who live below the poverty line are socially excluded, so the Convention is also about giving priority to economic empowerment.