Nepal acceded to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in 1991 without any reservation. There is no effective national mechanism for remedy on the violation of ESC rights. The state ignores the ESC rights stating that they are the subject of progressive realisation. Nepal is not a party to the Optional Protocol of ICESCR (OP-ICESCR). This hinders implementation of the Covenant and denies right to seek remedy for its violation.

The existing status of economic, social and cultural rights in Nepal suggests that it has failed to meet the obligations originating from the provisions of the Covenant. Nepal, like any other state party to the ICESCR, is required firstly, to make clear budgetary and implementation efforts to meet the basic needs of its citizens. Secondly, it is obliged to ensure that citizens will have a right to redress or reparation if these rights are denied or infringed upon. As a state party, Nepal government assumes the obligations to respect, protect, and to fulfil the rights enshrined in the Covenant without reservation. The 'minimum core obligation' of the Covenant is to satisfy 'at the very least, minimum essential levels of each of the rights', to the maximum of each state's available resources. General Comment 3 of the ESCR Committee notes that where the minimum core standards are not realized, resource constraints should be considered within the context of state parties having allocated "all resources that are at its disposition in an effort to satisfy, as a matter of priority, those minimum obligations."