Nepal's parliament has this week announced its decision to sign the UN law on tribal peoples (ILO Convention 169).
The law is the foremost international law dealing specifically with the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples.
A representative of the Federation of Indigenous Nationalities in Nepal, Sirjana Subba, said that the news constituted a major achievement for indigenous people. 'The Convention has guaranteed the right to self-determination of the indigenous nationalities over natural resources', she said.
Nepal will be the nineteenth country to ratify the law since it was adopted in 1989. Spain also made headlines by signing up in February this year.
