A/HRC/12/34/Add.3 page 8 of indigenous groups in the social, economic and cultural areas. It has the Prime Minister as its chair, the Minister of Local Development as its co-chair, and a vice-chairperson that functions as its chief executive and who is selected from among names provided by the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities, the main national collation of indigenous organizations. Also, NFDIN has a Governing Council and an Executive Committee, both composed mostly of indigenous members. Functionally, the Ministry of Local Development oversees the activities of NFDIN, and the development and execution of Government policy on matters of indigenous peoples more generally. 20. The current Interim Constitution of 2007 recognizes the diversity of Nepal (art. 3), and defines the country as a secular, inclusive and democratic State (art. 4). The Interim Constitution further recognizes the status of all mother languages as national languages, enabling their use in the governmental sector (art. 5). Each community has the right to preserve and promote its language and cultural heritage, as well as to receive basic education in its mother tongue (art. 17). In addition, the document explicitly recognizes the rights of indigenous peoples to “participate in State structures on the basis of principles of proportional inclusion” (art. 21), and, further, authorizes the State to implement special measures “for the protection, empowerment and advancement of indigenous nationalities” (art. 13). 21. Together with the various provisions of the Interim Constitution and the 2002 NFDIN Act, other pieces of recent legislation address specifically the situation of and call for specific measures in relation to the Adivasi Janajati and other marginalized groups. These include the Local Self-Government Act (1999); the Three Year Interim Plan (2007); the 2007 amendments to the Nepal Civil Service Laws, Military Act and Police Regulation; and the Ordinance on Inclusion in Public Service (2009). 22. Notwithstanding these path-breaking legal developments, Government officials consulted by the Special Rapporteur, acknowledged the need to promote a wider revision of existing legislation in order to accommodate it to the evolving constitutional make-up and Nepal’s international commitments regarding the rights of indigenous peoples, particularly as regards sectorial legislation. The Special Rapporteur further found that, with few exceptions apart from the Ministry of Local Development, Government ministries, while currently considering programmes and policies to uplift Adivasi Janajati, there have not yet been significant advances in the way of development and implementation of adequately funded programming and concrete plans of action on the indigenous issues that are relevant to them. 23. The National Human Rights Commission, which is constituted as autonomous from the Government, has recently started to incorporate attention to the rights of indigenous peoples within the framework of its 2008-2010 Strategic Plan, which includes a strategic area of work on “minorities”. In addition, NHRC has issued recommendations in a number of specific cases and on measures for legal reform concerning indigenous peoples. C. Nepal’s recent commitment to international standards 24. Responding to demands by indigenous organizations, Nepal ratified International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention (No. 169) concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries (“Convention 169”) on 14 September 2007, and the Convention entered into force for Nepal one year later. The ratification of Convention 169 forms part of Nepal’s