Joining the HRH Team was stepping into the ethical core of the UN. If the Peace and Security Team focused on the architecture of international order, HRH was where the UN dealt with dignity, justice, and humanitarian protection. To some extent, this rotation was a development of intellectual knowledge, but moral as well.
Key Engagements and Contributions
- The Mandela Prize 2025
- Awarded on: 18 July 2025 (on the occasion of Mandela Day)
- I had the rare privilege of working on the Nelson Mandela Prize, an honour awarded only once every five years.
- Due to its infrequency, much of the institutional memory had faded, which meant we had to reconstruct key processes and timelines almost from scratch.
- I was present in all meetings between the Selection Committee members (one PR from each regional group) and the Eminent Persons Group, who served as advisors to the process.
- I facilitated meeting coordination, tracked the evolving shortlist, and supported logistical tasks behind the scenes.
- High-level Debate on the Global Prison Crisis
- Date: 13 June 2025
- This marked the tenth anniversary of The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (commonly referred to as The Nelson Mandela Rules).
- My responsibility was to help finalize the speakers for the opening segment and the interactive panel discussion, ensuring thematic balance and geographic representation.
- I was deeply involved during the event day itself, facilitating behind the scenes and coordinating with panelists and missions.
- It was the first time I truly experienced what it means to manage a high-level UN event from the inside: balancing logistics, protocol, and substance in real time.
Conclusion
This rotation gave me a completely different view of diplomacy. Human rights diplomacy is layered, complex, and often slower than it should be, but when it moves, it moves with purpose.
What stood out most was how careful the UN is when it comes to rights language. Every word, every speaker, every sentence matters. And as someone from Nepal, which is a country that has always stood on the side of peace, democracy, and multilateral cooperation, I felt proud to contribute to a space that centers human dignity as the foundation of diplomacy.
More than anything, I walked away with a new respect for the quiet, meticulous work that powers the human rights machinery at the UN. And I know that in any future multilateral engagement, these lessons will stay with me.