undue fee structures in private schools, adulteration in commodities, workers’ safety, hygiene and other rights in industries, child labor, environmental hazards, medical negligence, and undue charges for treatment, etc. Land Encroachment in Nepal The Nepalese Constitution protects the right to property (Art. 25). The State may only acquire the property of an individual when the public interest requires it, and only then with proper compensation. Environment Impact Assessments (EIA) and Initial Environmental Examinations (IEE) as required by the Environment Protection Act, 1996 are conducted for all business and resource development activities. However, these measures are not sufficient to protect poor and vulnerable peoples from the adverse impacts of business activities. Also, traditional land and territories are not recognized by Nepalese laws and policies. The requirement to obtain free, prior, and informed consent from local communities is largely neglected by business operators in the field. National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) initiatives on protecting business related human rights The Constitution of Nepal provides for the rights to a clean environment (Art. 30), education (Art. 31), employment (Art. 33), labor (Art. 34), and health (Art. 35). The Constitution also protects the rights of women (Art. 38), children (Art.39), and consumers (Art. 44). Consciousness about these rights contributes to more responsible behavior on the part of the business community. The following are some examples of the NHRC’s initiatives: Consumers’ rights: The NHRC has issued monitoring ‘directives’ for the protection of consumer rights in 2011, which provides for monitoring of not only the supply of goods but also unfair, restrictive, or monopolistic trade practices. More importantly, the directives also provide for monitoring of grievance handling (NHRC, 2012b). In October 2014, the NHRC recommended making the function of the Food Standard Committee more effective, and inspecting whether the ratio of preservatives used in food is within the standard provided by the Food Regulation 1970 (NHRC, 2014). ANGOC and KPA 65

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