Nepal’s Missing Citizens

text by Gloriana Sojo and Megha Rimal

photography by Daisy Yang

After a decade-long civil war, and almost eight years of subsequent negotiations, last week, thousands of Nepalis lit candles and set off fireworks celebrating the country’s new constitution.

Tulasa and thousands of others did not. Tulasa spent more than a decade advocating for women’s right to pass on citizenship to their children and foreign husbands, which was denied in previous laws. She is married to a Dutch man and was never able to pass on Nepali citizenship to her three children. One afternoon, after five years of government office visits, filling out paperwork, countless hours of research, and an unshakable determination for justice, she did the unthinkable: she told an official in Nepal’s Interior Ministry to deport her three children. But the official had nowhere to send them. They were born and raised in Nepal.

She was hopeful that the new constitution would give equal rights to men and women. But it didn’t. Under the new citizenship provisions, women face more requirements than men to pass on citizenship to their children or foreign spouses.

In the new constitution, Nepali mothers have to prove that their child’s father is Nepali and that the child permanently lives in Nepal. If the husband is foreign or stateless, Nepali women cannot pass citizenship to their children by descent, instead, the children have to acquire it through naturalization. Thus, citizenship for thousands of Nepalis remains a matter of state discretion, and not an inherent right.

Nepali men, on the other hand, do not face these hurdles. Their children will obtain citizenship by descent regardless of their mother’s status, and their foreign spouses can obtain citizenship soon after marriage, while there are no clauses addressing the requirements for foreign men to obtain citizenship on marrying Nepali women.

These provisions are prone to further exacerbate an already serious problem of statelessness in Nepal. A recent study by the Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD) estimated that 896,800 children living with single mothers are at risk of being denied citizenship through descent by the government in the context of discriminatory provisions.

Applications of similar citizenship provisions and burdensome procedures have posed significant barriers to women in the past. There are too many cases where those applying for citizenship had to visit government offices repeatedly, were directed from ministry to ministry, and required to complete numerous forms, only to face ultimate citizenship rejection.

Tulasa knows this story all too well, after more than ten years of struggling to get citizenship for her children — and failing. She is financially well-off, and is a respected founder of an NGO for battered women. With a bribe, she could have circumvented the office visits and the years of waiting. She could have paid for her children to legally belong or she could have left for the Netherlands with her husband and family. Yet she didn’t.

Tulasa stayed. She thought that in the Netherlands she would be a second-class citizen. What she found was that, unable to pass on citizenship to her children in Nepal, she was a second class citizen in her own country. And yet she stayed—because she wanted to fight, not only for her children but for the thousands of women in Nepal who face the same plight.

Her children ultimately left Nepal. They speak at least three languages and now hold jobs across the European Union, as Dutch citizens. “It is Nepal’s loss,” their mother says. And this is true of a country that has already suffered millions of losses.

This loss of human talent extends beyond women. Citizenship provisions also affect children born out of wedlock and children with foreign and stateless fathers, many of whom are now grown-up Nepali men, without possibilities of owning cellphones, opening bank accounts, owning land, graduating from college, working in the formal sector, or travelling internationally.

“The first thing I should get from this country are my rights,” said Arjun, 27. “And without my citizenship, I have no rights. I am missing out on my basic rights.”

But this has not stopped Arjun who in addition to being stateless, is a Madhesi, a minority group in Nepal’s southern plains bordering India. Madhesis have notoriously high statelessness rates because Nepali women who marry Indian men (which is common in the border region) face numerous barriers passing on citizenship to their children. Madhesis also protested the new constitution, which rearranged administrative boundaries and they argue will limit their political representation. With a lot to fight for, Arjun has visited more than 22 districts around Nepal advocating for inclusive citizenship policies, and started an organization for stateless youth.

With his relentless efforts, Arjun was granted a voter’s card, a first among the stateless community. But for him, it is painfully ironic to be able to vote in the only country where he could be a citizen — and yet he is not.

The women in Arjun’s life — his wife and mother — are Nepali citizens with jobs in the government and in a hospital but aside from being by his side and helping him financially, they cannot do more to help him gain citizenship and the basic rights that come along with it.

Arjun and Tulasa are not alone. In 2014, an estimated 4.6 million people (equivalent to one fourth of the total population) were stateless in Nepal, according to a FWLD study. Preena and Shanti have similar stories of struggling with a state bureaucracy and restrictive laws to obtain citizenship in the country where they were born and raised.

Preena (above), 21, like Arjun, is also a Madhesi. Her father was Indian and passed away when she was young, so she has been unable to obtain Nepali citizenship through her mother. Her mother helps her with house rentals and other basic amenities, to compensate in part for Preena’s limited education and employment opportunities due to a lack of citizenship.

Although Preena was enrolled in college, without the citizenship card she couldn’t take part in the official examination that would have granted her a degree. She talks about her dream to become a successful actress and a social worker, but unable to go abroad for screenings and to find formal jobs, the acting career will have to wait indefinitely.

In January 2015, Shanti (below), 22, a student in Kathmandu, became the second person to be granted citizenship through her mother’s lineage. Shanti’s father abandoned her family when she was a baby. She and her brother were both raised by her mother who is a citizenship holder, but due to her father’s absence they were unable to prove his citizenship status. The Chief District Officer (CDO), in 2007 denied their application and refused to recognize them as Nepali citizens.

After fighting for seven years and with the help of local NGOs, the supreme court approved Shanti’s and her brother’s citizenship applications in March 2014. When this photo was taken in June 2014, Shanti was still waiting for her certificate and was on the verge of giving up thinking that it might never be issued. After ten months, both she and her brother received their citizenship card, becoming the second family in the country to receive citizenship through their mother’s lineage.

“Legally, people like [Shanti] will need to be provided citizenship based on this Supreme Court decision,” said Subin Mulmi, project coordinator at Forum for Women, Law and Development. “But procedurally they are still denied due to the corrupt and conservative bureaucratic system.”

Experts and advocates noted the success of this case, but citizenship rights will continue to be a matter of state discretion for many. While Shanti and her brother might have a reason to light candles and celebrate as did so many during the past weeks in Nepal, without progressive amendments to the constitution, thousands of women and their children are a long way from celebrating. But for them, many are speaking up. “I will fight for those who don’t know where to go, who are helpless,” said Tulasa. “For them, I will continue to raise this issue and fight.”

Special thanks to Indu Tuladhar and Bishowari Nepal of Himal Innovative Development and Research