KATHMANDU, MARCH 31
A national dialogue program was organised here to discuss the existing legal provisions, challenges, and the amendments required to be made in the constitution to facilitate obtainment of citizenship on the basis of mothers' Nepali naitonality.
The programme titled "Citizenship through the mother's name: reforms, challenges, and constitutional amendments" was jointly organised by the Citizenship Affected People's Network (CAPN), Nationality For All (NFA), and the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights (GCENR).
The programme featured in-depth discussions among civil society members, media professionals, academics, and affected individuals on ensuring gender equality in citizenship.
At a time when 172 out of 195 countries worldwide-approximately 88 per cent-have ensured gender equality in their citizenship laws, Nepal still faces several legal and practical barriers.
Two people whose family members could not obtain citizenship due to legal and practical barriers, said at the interaction that although Constitution includes provisions for acquiring citizenship through the mother's name, these provisions are conditional and ultimately dependent on the father's identity. As a result, individuals often face various conditions, bureaucratic hurdles, and even humiliating processes in practice when seeking citizenship on the basis of their mothers' Nepali nationality.
Speakers who did not want to be identified said legal and practical barriers have significant psychological, social, and economic impacts on affected families, sometimes causing irreparable economic loss for the affected families.
The program highlighted that only 24 countries, including Nepal, still have gender-discriminatory citizenship laws where mothers cannot equally pass citizenship to their children. In the Asia-Pacific region, only four countries-including Nepal-and in South Asia, Nepal alone maintains such provisions.
During the program, a digital platform titled "Global Legal Atlas on Gender Discriminatory Citizenship Laws" was officially launched in Nepal. This platform allows users to easily access comparative studies and information on citizenship laws and practices across these 24 countries.
The platform is expected to provide comparative analysis of discriminatory citizenship laws worldwide and serve as an evidence-based resource for policymaking.