Nepal · Nairobi · The World
Shailee
Chaudhary
A human rights practitioner working at the intersection of caste, migration, and gender — from Nepal, for the world.
Chief Operating Officer, Global Migrant Workers Network · PR Candidate, Nepal
Australia Awards Scholar · Human Rights Law, University of Melbourne
Kathmandu, Nepal
I grew up in Birgunj — a border town in the Madhesh region of Nepal that sits between two countries and is fully claimed by neither.
Growing up there taught me things no classroom could: that geography is political, that belonging is contested, and that the people most invisible to power are often the ones holding everything together. I came to human rights not through a textbook but through watching what happened when people had none.
I saw caste operate quietly and violently in daily life. I watched neighbours leave for the Gulf on promises that became traps. I watched women carry the weight of systems designed to ignore them. These were not abstract problems. They were the lives of people I knew.
“The people most invisible to power are often the ones holding everything together.”
That is why I work at the intersection of caste, migration, and gender. Not because it is a tidy research cluster, but because those three things were never separate to begin with — not in Birgunj, not in Kathmandu, not in the corridors of international policy.
Today I lead operations at the Global Migrant Workers Network — a network of over 18,000 migrant workers across 71 organisations in 27 countries. I am also a proportional representation candidate in Nepal, because I believe the people who understand exclusion most deeply should be the ones making the laws.
I hold a Master of Human Rights Law from the University of Melbourne, where I studied as an Australia Awards Scholar. I also hold a postgraduate degree in Finance from Tribhuvan University. I speak English, Nepali, Hindi, and Bhojpuri — and I understand that the language you speak in a room determines whether your voice carries.
Before GMWN, I was Director of Programs at Dalit Lives Matter Global Alliance in Nepal, where I led campaigns on caste dignity, political representation, and access to education for Dalit children. Before that, I worked at Samata Foundation, co-founded and chaired Sanskriti, and co-organised two cycles of TEDxBirgunj. My work has touched every scale — from remote village dialogues in Karnali Province to the floor of the International Labour Conference.
Three things I will not stop talking about
These are not causes I support. They are the ground I stand on.
Migrant Workers
Over 169 million people live outside their country of origin as migrant workers. Most of them are invisible in the policies that govern their lives. I work with them and for them — not about them. At GMWN, we have 18,000 members across 27 countries who should be setting the agenda, not being consulted as an afterthought.
- —Bilateral labour agreements that actually protect workers, not just regulate the flow of labour
- —Ending recruitment fee systems that trap workers in debt before they even arrive
- —Portability of rights across borders, not just portability of labour
- —Survivor-led governance in migration policy spaces — not token seats, but real decision-making power
- —Consular accountability when migrant workers are detained, abused, or killed abroad
Caste & Dalit Rights
Caste is not a South Asian curiosity. It is a global human rights crisis affecting an estimated 1.9 billion people. Nepal has laws against caste-based discrimination. That is not the same as ending it. The law exists on paper. The enforcement does not.
- —Enforcement — not just legislation — of Nepal's Caste-Based Discrimination and Untouchability Act
- —Dalit political representation beyond tokenism: inclusive candidacies, not quotas that go unfilled
- —International recognition of caste as a prohibited ground of discrimination, on par with race and ethnicity
- —Provincial Dalit Rights Bills that have been drafted and archived — they need political champions
- —Intersectional approach: caste, gender, and migration cannot be separated in either analysis or response
Gender & Inclusion
I believe feminist governance is not a programme. It is a way of deciding who speaks, who holds resources, and whose knowledge counts. That applies to international funds, to national parliaments, and to the organisations we run.
- —LGBTQIA+ rights as non-negotiable in development and humanitarian frameworks — not a regional exception
- —Feminist funding that centres survivor-led organisations, not just organisations that serve survivors
- —Gender equity in political participation: not just representation on a list, but power in the room
- —Nepal's Marriage Equality Act: the Supreme Court opened the door, the parliament needs to walk through it
- —Dismantling the hierarchy between formal and informal care work — in law and in funding decisions
What I think, in print
What the ICJ's climate advisory opinion means for a country that contributes almost nothing to the crisis and absorbs almost everything from it. Nepal is not a footnote to this story. Nepal is the story — and its workers, farmers, and communities have been paying the bill for decades.
Read on Setopati→Platforms I have stood on
I speak as a practitioner, not a commentator. The topics below come from fifteen years of work — not literature reviews. I am available for panels, policy dialogues, keynotes, and workshops at local, national, regional, and international platforms.
- 2023Women Achievers AwardNepalPanellist
- 2023Women's Leadership ConferenceNepalPanellist
- 2023Women Deliver ConferenceKigali, RwandaDelegate
- 2023International Youth Conference — UN-Habitat Partnered EventInternationalParticipant
- 2022Born with Pride ConferenceNepalPanellist
- 2022Tackling Hate Speech TogetherUN NepalPanellist
- 2022Janakpur Literature Festival 2.0Janakpur, NepalPanellist
- 2020WOW Virtual NepalBritish Council NepalBites Speaker
- 2019WOW MadheshBritish Council NepalBites Speaker
Invite me to speak
If you are organising a forum, conference, dialogue, or workshop where these issues belong — and where a practitioner voice would serve the room — get in touch.
- —Panel discussions
- —Keynote addresses
- —Policy dialogues
- —Academic seminars
- —Community forums
- —UN and international conferences
- —Workshops & facilitated sessions
What others have said
Where it started. Where it still matters.
Birgunj is not a footnote in my story. It is the reason for it.
I am from Birgunj. I grew up in the Madhesh — a region Nepal's political centre has historically treated as a periphery, and whose people have carried that cost in their bodies, their futures, and their rights.
That is why I am a proportional representation candidate with the Gatisheel Loktrantrik Party. Not because politics is a career path, but because the people most affected by laws should have some hand in writing them. Credentials do not grant that right. Lived experience does.
My policy positions in Nepal are not separate from my international work. The same systems that push Nepali workers into exploitative Gulf contracts, that keep Dalit families locked out of land and school, that silence LGBTQIA+ youth in their own communities — those systems need to be changed from inside and outside the state, simultaneously.
- Labour Migration ReformNepal sends over 400,000 workers abroad each year. The governance of that process — from recruitment to return — needs to actually protect them, not just manage their departure.
- Dalit Rights LegislationProvincial Dalit Rights Bills exist in draft form. They need political champions who will push them through, not archive them for the next legislative cycle.
- Marriage EqualityNepal's Supreme Court opened this door in 2023. The parliament needs to walk through it. Delay is a position, and it is the wrong one.
- Madhesh RepresentationMadheshi voices in federal governance remain chronically underrepresented. That is a democratic deficit, not a regional preference or a cultural sensitivity to be managed.
म बिरगञ्जकी हुँ। मधेशमा हुर्किएँ — एक यस्तो क्षेत्र जसलाई नेपालको राजनीतिक केन्द्रले सधैं परिधिमा राखेको छ।
मेरो काम जात, लिङ्ग, र श्रम अप्रवासनको चौबाटोमा छ। यी तीन विषय कहिल्यै छुट्टाछुट्टै थिएनन् — बिरगञ्जमा पनि होइन, काठमाडौंमा पनि होइन, अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय नीतिको गलियारामा पनि होइन।
म समानुपातिक प्रतिनिधित्व उम्मेदवार हुँ किनभने कानुनबाट सबभन्दा बढी प्रभावित हुने मानिसहरूले त्यो कानुन लेख्नमा हात हुनुपर्छ।
यो पृष्ठको पूर्ण नेपाली अनुवाद उपलब्ध छ। भाषा परिवर्तनका लागि माथि नेभिगेसनमा टगल गर्नुहोस्।
Full Nepali translation available. Use the language toggle in the navigation above.
If something on this site made you think, made you want to talk, or made you want to collaborate — reach out. I read everything, even if I cannot always respond quickly.
shaileeism@gmail.comI welcome
- →Speaking invitations — local, national, regional, and global platforms
- →Media and press enquiries
- →Research and policy collaboration
- →Fellowship and programme nominations
- →Writing commissions and editorial conversations
- →Partnership enquiries related to GMWN's work
- →Conversations about caste, migration, and gender in any context
I aim to respond to speaking and media enquiries within three to five working days. For GMWN operational matters, please contact the network directly through gmwn.org.