Mr. Shudarson Subedi is a leader of the disability movement in Nepal. He has been an advocate for enhancing access to justice for persons with disabilities and his efforts bore fruit when he won a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), which secured thousands of students with disabilities free education and health services in Nepal.
Mr. Subedi was among the first disability rights advocates in Nepal, establishing the Nepal Disabled Human Rights Centre. Together with a network of activists, he advocated for the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights for Persons with Disabilities in Nepal. He also helped establish the National Human Rights Commission, shifting disability advocacy from charity-based to a right-based approach in Nepal.
Mr. Subedi has received the ASHOKA Fellowship 2005, in the Disability and Human Rights Category. In the same year, he received the Champion of Change Award 2005, Disability & Human Rights, jointly granted by the Government of Nepal/Ministry of Industry, the National Federation of the Chamber and Commerce, and the Non-Residential Nepali Association. He is also a recipient of the International Service 2008 Human Rights Award in the category of “Defense of the Rights of Disabled People” by the International Service Partners against Poverty, U.K.
Mr. Subedi currently serves as the President of the National Federation of the Disabled Nepal (NFDN).