By Dev Kumar Sunuwar

At one time media in Nepal were criticized for ignoring the voices, participation and access of Indigenous Peoples.  The Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (ACORAB)—an umbrella organization of community radio stations in Nepal, AMARC-Asia Pacific, UNESCO and UNDP Nepal recently jointly organized a national consultation on the state of Indigenous broadcasting to best address the concerns of Indigenous peoples in community radio.

On June 3-5, 2019, in Kathmandu, Nepal, in order to help Indigenous community radio stationed working at the grassroots level to sort out technical problems occurring in radio systems, the Indigenous Community Radio Network (ICRN) a partner organization of Cultural Survival conducted a three-day workshop on basic skills on maintenance and repairing radio equipment for technicians.

In May 2018, at the the 95th Session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), Nepal’s human rights record was reviewed under the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

On April 25^th, 2015, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake hit Nepal. It caused a death toll of over 10,000 people, injured over 30,000 people, and destroyed thousands of homes and buildings. Three weeks later, a 7.3-magnitude earthquake killed at least sixty-five people in Nepal and seventeen people in India, injured thousands, and brought down buildings that were weakened by the first quake. The United Nations estimates that the earthquakes have affected approximately eight million people.