KATHMANDU, AUGUST 5
Engineer Indrajit Saphi, who has not been able to obtain his citizenship, said that people like him were enduring unspeakable difficulties for lack of citizenship but the government is oblivious to their miseries. Saphi's mother and father are both Nepali citizens yet the youth has not been able to obtain citizenship in the absence of a new federal citizenship law.
Speaking at a programme organised by Forum for Women, Law and Development here today, Saphi said that there was no reason for the president to delay her assent to the citizenship bill passed recently by both Houses of the Parliament.
It's been five days since the bill was sent to the president desk and yet she has not put the seal of her assent. This bill contains the same provision that were contained in the ordinance the president had issued a few months ago on the recommendation of then prime minister KP Sharma Oli, he added. Saphi said in the absence of citizenship certificates he could not enrol himself in colleges in the country as a result he went to study in one of the Indian colleges in Haryana from where he obtained engineering degree in 2019. "My parents took Rs 70,000 loan from local lender for my study and now we have to pay two million rupees. The lender will auction our property as we failed to repay his loan," Saphi said that had he got a chance to work after graduation, he could have easily repaid the family loan. Saphi said his sister was removed from job in the absence of her citizenship certificate and his younger brother who lost hope of obtaining citizenship suffered mental illness.
UNICEF employee Ram Pras-ad Gautam said that Nepal needed to achieve the target of cent per cent birth registration in order to meet sustainable development goals. Many people were not being able to register their kids due to lack of citizenship and awareness. At present, only 77.2 per cent population have obtained birth registration certificates. Madhes Province is lagging behind all other provinces in terms of birth registration rate, Gautam added. He said only seven per cent birth registration were being done within 35 days which indicated that the stakeholders should work more to make the parents aware about securing birth registration of their children within the stipulated period.
Member of sexual and gender minority group Bhumika Shreshta said that the current laws created barrier for members of sexual and gender minority group in obtaining their citizenship with their sexual and gender minority. She said she had to obtain three citizenship cards to get her sexual and gender minority right. Shrestha said that members of sexual and gender minority should not be required to show proof of sex change operation and their identity must be mentioned as per their statement in the citizenship application.
Under Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs Binita Bhattarai said that the laws stipulated that the concerned agencies were bound to issue birth registration certificates to the children of both Nepali and foreign nationals but due to lack of legal knowledge concerned officers at local levels were creating hurdle for the service seekers.
She said that after the new citizenship bill would be a law, the government will have to frame rules and procedures to issue citizenship in accordance with the new law.
"Current laws created barriers for sexual and gender minorities in obtaining citizenship"
A version of this article appears in the print on August 6, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
