NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION 2. The Commission’s Opinions on the draft report concerning the civil and political rights In accordance with Section 9 (3) of the Human Rights Commission Act 1997, the Commission has forwarded the periodical draft report on the Covenant on the Civil and Political Rights by attaching its opinions to it back to the Home Ministry. It was so acted upon as per the Commission’s decision dated 31 March 2004. The opinions covered not only the positive points of the report, but also the suggestions for collective and individual part-wise reforms. Initiatives taken on sending reports after a long duration mentioning the role played by NHRC in protection and promotion of human rights, writing reports in part-wise or categorical structure following specified report format in large extent, including executive summary and conclusion in reports are the progressive positive points of the report. Likewise, following are the main suggestions the Commission has provided to improve the draft report : ❐ ❐ ❐ ❐ ❐ ❐ ❐ ❐ ❐ ❐ The initiative taken towards implementing the concluding observations and comments presented by the concerned committee in the preliminary report that Nepal had submitted earlier should be mentioned.The situation regarding the implementation of the Commission’s recommendations should also be stated. It should also state the efforts made towards evaluating the impact of the Terrorist and Destructive Activities (Control and Punishment) Act. It should state the rules relating to the use of weapons by police and other security forces. It should also mention whether the rules have been abided by, or not; and whether the non-abidance has taken anybody’s life. Besides, it should also state whether investigation into the perpetrators has been done or not. It should mention the remedies against the prevention of the incidents in which the state conceals the whereabouts of those in custody. It should also state the inquiries or probe, if any, made into the complaints of such inhuman activities. It is desirable to mention the measures to control the child mortality rate, malnutrition, and spread of epidemics, and to conserve environment. These constitute the rights to life. There should be a mention of how the court orders have been enforced. It is desirable to mention the initiative towards discounting those convicted of abortion, as convicts are by rule allowed to benefit from change in law after their crime. It should cover the information on the incidents in which strikes were banned by citing the Essential Services Act. It should also state the incidents in which people were banned from peaceful assembly, and from observing public functions during the report period. It should also mention the laws and organisational structure of trade unions in Nepal. The Commission has presented its suggestions even by collecting the opinions of NGO’s involved in the field of human rights. 16