Madhesh was an UNPO member between 2017 and 2023.   

The Madhesh region of southern Nepal, home to Madhesi communities, has faced structural exclusion from the Nepali state’s political and administrative systems. Represented within the UNPO by the Alliance for Independent Madhesh (AIM), the Madhesh movement has used international advocacy to draw attention to structural discrimination and governance imbalances. Despite being Nepal’s agricultural and economic heartland, Madhesh continues to experience under-representation in state institutions, economic neglect, and limited access to citizenship. AIM emphasised nonviolent, democratic self-determination, calling for constitutional reforms that guarantee proportional political representation, equitable federal boundaries, and linguistic equality. 

The UNPO also documented concerns over human rights violations during the 2015-2016 protests, when excessive use of force by security forces resulted in civilian deaths and deepened distrust between the region and Kathmandu. AIM”s engagement with UNPO sought to highlight these abuses internationally and to advocate for the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent in state development projects affecting Terai communities. 

Within UNPO, AIM advanced campaigns on citizenship reform, inclusive education, and decentralised development, linking Madhesi grievances to broader global discussions on the rights of unrepresented peoples. While Nepal’s 2015 federal model has created Province 2 (now Madhesh Province), questions of autonomy, identity recognition, and fair resource allocation remain unresolved. 

Madhesh is one of Nepal’s most ethnolinguistically diverse regions, home to Maithili, Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Tharu, and Urdu-speaking communities. Its culture blends ancient Mithila artistic traditions, agrarian and riverine livelihoods, and cross-border exchange with the plains of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The region’s festivals—such as Chhath, Holi, and Sama Chakewa—reflect shared Indo-Gangetic heritage while maintaining distinct local practices. Despite this richness, the Nepali state historically portrayed Terai as peripheral, leading to cultural marginalisation and stereotyping of Madhesis as “foreign” or “less Nepali.”

Language and attire—dhoti-kurta, sari, and maithili paag—function as strong identity markers, while literature, and folk music remain key vehicles for cultural resilience. Religious life is pluralistic, with Hinduism predominant alongside significant Muslim and Indigenous Tharu populations. Today, community organisations and local media promote the teaching of Madhesi languages and cultural history, seeking parity with Nepali as a national language. 

The Madhesh, also known as the Terai, forms the fertile plains along Nepal’s southern frontier with India. Historically, this region was part of ancient Mithila, Koshi, and Awadh cultural zones, whose people shared language, kinship, and religious ties with the Indo-Gangetic plains to the south. The Madhesi population developed rich agrarian and mercantile traditions rooted in local autonomy and cross-border exchange. Until the 18th century, much of the Terai remained loosely governed by local chieftains and zamindars, linked economically and culturally to North India rather than the Himalayan highlands. 

The modern history of Madesh began with the Gorkha conquest under King Prithvi Narayan Shah in the mid-18th century, when the newly unified Nepali kingdom annexed the southern plains. Shah and his successors described the region as the kingdom’s “granary” but treated its inhabitants as outsiders. Many local leaders were replaced by hill administrators, and state policy increasingly centralised power in Kathmandu. The Treaty of Sugauli in 1816 between Nepal and the British East India Company formalised the current borders, dividing Madhesi cultural and kinship networks across the Indo-Nepal frontier. 

Under the Rana regime, the Terai was exploited as a source of agricultural revenue and timber, while the Madhesi population remained politically disenfranchised. Citizenship laws and administrative posts were restricted to hill elites, entrenching ethnic and geographic hierarchies that persisted well into the 20th century. The democratic movements of 1951 and 1990, though ending autocracy, failed to redress Madhesi exclusion. Citizenship certificates were often denied to Madhesis on the basis of language, attire, or perceived “foreign origin,” despite centuries of settlement. 

Following the end of the monarchy in 2008 Madhesi political parties mobilised protests demanding federalism and inclusion in the new republican structure. The Madhesh Movements (2007, 2008, 2015) became milestones in Nepal’s democratic transition, pressing for provincial autonomy, proportional representation, and citizenship reform. However, the 2015 Constitution, drafted without broad Madhesi participation, was seen as perpetuating hill dominance by dividing the Terai into multiple provinces and failing to guarantee proportional representation in the legislature and bureaucracy. Protests across the southern plain led to violent state repression and blockade along the India-Nepal border, underscoring persistent grievances over citizenship, federal demarcation, and linguistic marginalisation.