Women lawyers and women rights activists have proposed changes in the citizenship provisions of the constitution stating that earlier constitutions were discriminatory in this issue.

State Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare, Urmila Aryal

State Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare, Urmila Aryal (File Photo)
At the end of the two-day national seminar on Friday organized by Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD) to formulate strategies for equal citizenship rights to all people born in Nepal, the women rights activists demanded that no one should be barred from right to citizenship simply because his or her father was unknown.

State Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare, Urmila Aryal said thousands of Nepalese children will be stateless, whose fathers were killed in the decade long internal conflict, if the current provisions of the constitution regarding citizenship were not amended.

Regional Director of United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Chandani Joshi, said the current transitional period is the best opportunity for women in Nepal to take greatest stock of rights guaranteed in the constitution. She said lack of confidence among women is a major cause for women’s backwardness in Nepali society.

President of FWLD Sapana Pradhan Malla said discrimination in issuance of citizenship to women have barred thousands of women from opportunities to jobs. She also criticized the House of Representatives for not including changes in citizenship provisions of the constitution in the declaration made on May 18 when 46 articles were declared invalid.

The women activists also suggested for change in citizenship provision in the new constitution. They proposed that anyone whose parents are not recognized should be provided citizenship as the basis of his or her ancestry. Similarly, they said any person whose either parents were Nepali at the time of his or her birth should be given Nepali citizenship.

According to government statistics, over one million people have been barred from citizenship because their fathers were killed unknown. But rights activists state the figure could be as high as four million. The problem is serious among the Madhesi and Badi women whose parents are not known or whose husband had died.

Access to banking services, political activities, government jobs, right to family, migration, right to own properties, social benefits are some of areas women have been facing troubles due to the lack of citizenship.