KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 28

Forum for Women, Law, Justice and Equality Now jointly issued a press release today expressing concern about the non-authentication of the citizenship bill by President Bidhya Devi Bhandari.

The Forum for Women, Law and Development, Nepal, and Equality Now have expressed disappointment over the refusal by President Bhandari to sign the Citizenship Amendment Bill (which amends the Nepal Citizenship Act, 2006 into law), read the release issued by the these organisations.

The FWLD and Equality Now stated in their release that President Bhandari had not authenticated the bill despite being constitutionally bound to do so after it was passed by both houses of the Parliament. This has caused a constitutional crisis in Nepal, leaving thousands of people stuck in a painful limbo, including Nepali mothers wanting to confer their citizenship to their children, read the release.

Had President Bhandari signed the bill, the law would have been amended to introduce some crucial changes to the rules governing access to Nepali citizenship.

The bill would have granted Nepali mothers the right to confer citizenship to their children who are living in Nepal, once she made a self-declaration of the father being 'unidentified' or absent, the FWLD and Equality Now stated in their joint release.

They said another amendment would have accorded 'citizenship by descent' to those born to parents with citizenship by birth. It would also have given the Non-Resident Nepalis (NRNs) access to a type of citizenship that assured economic, social, and cultural rights, but no voting and other political rights.

We strongly believe that the law should address equality in all terms and conditions when it pertains to the passing of citizenship, irrespective of the gender of the persons involved, read the release. This larger aim could have been partly achieved if the amended bill had become law, as a first step. While it would have addressed some urgent gender-discriminatory citizenship provisions and practices in Nepal, the passing of the bill would also have opened up the space for more pointed advocacy for further amendments in a bid to address the remaining discrimination.

A version of this article appears in the print on September 29, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.