Latest news feedRefugees Magazine Issue 147 ("The Excluded: The strange hidden world of the stateless") - Nepal moves mountains
by Nini Gurung and Eric Paulsen
"I have an identity now," said Birash Maya Majhi, amazed by how easy it was: an hour's walk, a bit of a wait in line before handing over her application form, photograph and some supporting documents."And then we were asked to come the next day to collect our citizenship certificates!"
Birash is one of a reported 2.6 million Nepalese people who received citizenship certificates during a massive government campaign to regularize their situation in the first few months of 2007. Hundreds of mobile teams criss-crossed Nepal's 75 districts, visiting even the remotest of mountain villages, to ensure that certificates were issued to as many stateless people as possible.
This extraordinary logistical feat stemmed from the Nepal Citizenship Act of November 2006, which tackled the country's long-standing "citizenship problem" – the estimated 3.4 million people who did not have citizenship certificates, and as a result suffered from a heavily truncated set of civil, social and economic rights. One of the main aims of the Act was to ensure that all eligible Nepalese can vote in forthcoming elections.
De facto statelessness as a result of ineffective or undocumented citizenship has been a long-standing problem in Nepal. The poorest and most marginalized communities in the country have tended to be the worst affected. Many were unaware of their right to citizenship, or of the importance of possessing a certificate. Others simply did not have the means to obtain one. Other factors leading to a lack of documentation included discrimination against women, the perception of some groups as "non-Nepali," and insufficient state infrastructure to carry out the paperwork.
Human rights activists had long complained that, under previous laws, only men were allowed to pass on their Nepalese nationality to their children. Under the new law, mothers can also do so, subject to certain conditions. However, these provisions have yet to be fully implemented, as a result of administrative hurdles and deeply-engrained cultural factors.
"My husband refused to support me to get the certificate saying that, as I do not have to go out to work, there is no need for one," said Janaki Kumal, a mother of two."When I went to the certificate distribution centre, I was told that since I am married, they cannot issue the certificate without my husband's formal consent."
Other women reported their husbands stopped them obtaining certificates because they wanted second wives or feared property disputes. And some fathers did not see any need for their daughters to obtain them, as they would soon be their husbands' responsibility.
There are also still quite a few people in rural areas – including women – who remain unconvinced of the value of a certificate."Our parents did not have a citizenship certificate as they never felt the need for one. It is the same with us. We are not educated, nor are our children – so why do we need one?" said Gyani, who lives in a remote village in Chitwan district.
One of the areas most affected by the "citizenship problem" is the Terai region bordering India, where the local Madhesi people have often been labeled as Indian rather than Nepalese. Even though they may have lived for generations in the same village, many Madhesi do not have birth certificates, land titles or indeed any of the supporting documentation required to validate their citizenship claims.
In an effort to get round this problem, the new law includes a temporary two-year provision allowing for citizenship by birth (instead of solely by descent). Under this provision, individuals born before April 1990 who prove they have spent their entire lives in Nepal now qualify for citizenship.
Prakash Bote also recently got a citizenship certificate for the first time. He is a member of an indigenous group known as the Bote, who earn their living as forest fishermen. However, since the establishment of the Chitwan National Park in 1973, fishermen have needed a licence – and in order to apply for a licence, one has to have a citizenship certificate. Many of the Bote have therefore been prevented from pursuing their traditional livelihood for the past quarter of a century.
"The citizenship certificate has changed my life tremendously. I now have a licence to fish and can easily earn 50 to 100 rupees a day," Prakash said.
The campaign has been a resounding success – and shows what is possible when a state is determined to get to grips with statelessness."Within a short span of time, the number of people with ineffective citizenship has been dramatically reduced," said Abraham Abraham, unhcr's Representative in Nepal." The Government of Nepal should be highly commended."
Source: Refugees Magazine Issue 147: "The Excluded: The strange hidden world of the stateless"
(September 2007). Download the complete issue in pdf format: low-resolution (1.8 Mb) here or high-resolution (6.8 Mb) here.
