Nepal-UN Relations
A. Introduction
Nepal became a member of the United Nations when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution A/Res/995(X) on 14 December 1955. Nepal has remained active in the Organization ever since, with a steadfast commitment to its purposes and principles, and anchoring multilateral diplomacy to realize a just, peaceful and equitable world order as set out in its Charter.
The Constitution of Nepal stipulates that the foreign policy of Nepal shall be based on the Charter of the United Nations, non-alignment, and principles of Panchsheel, international law and the norms of world peace.
Nepal has consistently accorded its relations with the United Nations a high priority in the conduct of international relations, demonstrated also by the fact that the Heads of State or Government have usually led Nepal’s delegation to the annual sessions of the General Assembly.
B. Major Engagements of Nepal in the United Nations
The United Nations is at the center of Nepal’s multilateral diplomacy. Accordingly, Nepal has remained active across all pillars of the United Nations: peace and security; development; and human rights and humanitarian issues. While Nepal has an abiding faith in the UN Charter, it firmly holds the view that the faithful adherence to the purposes and principles of the UN can ensure international peace and security. In this vein, Nepal has consistently stood for a world that affords everlasting peace and security to all countries, pivoting our diplomatic efforts in the UN around the development of norms and rules to realize a comity of nations.
This overarching objective also reinforces Nepal’s call for time-bound, general and complete disarmament of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in the United Nations, reflecting a fundamental tenet of our foreign policy.
The purposes and principles of the UN guided our work when we served as a non-permanent member of the Security Council during 1969-70 and 1988-89.
Nepal is a founding member of the Non-aligned Movement, and it believes that “Bandung Principles” are time tested principles for peaceful international order where all countries have equitable and dignified participation irrespective of their size, economic prowess or military might.
Nepal has championed the cause of decolonization and disarmament in the UN processes. In its journey as a responsible member of the UN family, Nepal has taken various responsibilities in multiple UN bodies. In the same vein, Nepal will take the Chair of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) of the UN General Assembly during its 81st session (September 2025 to September 2026).
Likewise, Nepal has been contributing to the maintenance of international peace and security through our consistent participation in UN mandated peacekeeping operations since 1958. Nepal is proud as it is, currently, the largest troops and police contributing country.
Similarly, Nepal has played an active role in the development pillar, often in leading capacities to shape the international economic and financial order in favor of developing countries. As part of G-77 & China, Nepal has firmly supported the reform of the global trading system, and global economic and financial architecture to make them fair and equitable which would provide fair and equitable opportunity to the developing countries for the prosperity of the poorest people.
Nepal is currently (2024-2026) a member of the ECOSOC, where we have pledged to leverage the complementarities across various global policy frameworks to realize the sustainable development goals. Similarly, Nepal presented its third Voluntary National Review (VNR) report to the ECOSOC High-level Political Forum that reviewed the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals this year (2024). The first and the second VNRs were presented in 2017 and 2020.
Nepal chaired the Bureau of the Economic and Financial Committee of the General Assembly (Second Committee) during the 75th Session (September 2020 to September 2021); and was its Rapporteur during the 76th session (September 2021 to September 2022).
Nepal is also chairing the Global Coordination Bureau of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) from 2023 to 2026, coinciding with our graduation from this category by the end of 2026.
Previously, Nepal served in the same capacity during 2009-2012, leading the negotiations and adoption of the Istanbul Programme of Action from the fourth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries.
Every year, as a member of G-77 & China, and also individually, Nepal actively negotiates, cosponsors and plays its part to adopt a number of resolutions that shape global development agenda and help accelerate the implementation of sustainable development goals as well as other internationally agreed upon goals.
Third, Nepal is committed to the protection and promotion of human rights, having ratified seven core human rights conventions ICCPR, ICESCR, ICERD, CEDAW, CAT, CRC and CRPD. In total, Nepal is a state party to 24 international human rights conventions. The constitution of Nepal incorporates a comprehensive set of fundamental rights, which includes rights for women, children, poor, disabled and indigenous peoples, among others.
Reflective of our status as a liberal and progressive country in terms of human rights, Nepal cosponsors a number of resolutions on literacy, violence against women, trafficking of women and girls, issues regarding children, right to food and human rights in the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Issues Committee of the General Assembly (Third Committee). We actively participate in the negotiations and adoption of resolutions in the Committee.
Nepal also served as a member of the Human Rights Council from 2018 to 2023 for two consecutive terms, and has presented its reports to the first, second and third cycle of Universal Periodic Reviews in 2011, 2015 and 2021. We actively engage in the annual sessions of Human Rights Council and cosponsor a number of thematic resolutions that advance civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights.
Nepal is also elected to the Executive Board of UN-Women for the term 2025-2027.
Besides, Ms. Bandana Rana has been elected for the third consecutive period in the CEDAW Committee for 2025-2028 with the highest number of votes (146) on 7 June 2024. She was first elected to the Committee for the period 2017-2020.
In addition, Nepal actively participates in the processes related to the development and codification of international law.
At present, we have three permanent missions in New York, Geneva and Vienna, representing Nepal at the United Nations.
C. Nepal-UN Partnership
The United Nations has been a longstanding partner of Nepal, providing assistance in areas as diverse as social and economic development, governance and human rights, disaster management and recovery. Its presence in Nepal can be traced back to 1951–even before Nepal became a UN member–when the Food and Agricultural Organization opened its office in Kathmandu.
At present, the UN Resident Coordinator in Kathmandu leads all UN agencies and entities, known collectively as the UN Country Team (UNCT), working in Nepal. Currently, there are 17 UN agencies with resident offices, and a further 9 agencies have their programs in Nepal[1]. The UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) provides the strategic framework for Nepal-UN partnership for the period 2023-2027.
Following the adoption of 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the United Nations General Assembly also reformed the UN development system, repositioning it to the attainment of sustainable development goals in the program countries. Accordingly, the Frameworks were developed for strategic coordination and implementation of the activities of all the UN agencies, enhancing the effectiveness and impact of the UN Development System to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.