By TON Nepal Desk

On Friday the amendment to the Citizenship Act, 2006 was endorsed by the House of Representatives through a majority vote. The modification to the citizenship was essential to make it well-matched with the Constitution of Nepal. Due to the differences among the parties, the amendment was not conceivable though it was registered in Parliament back in August 2018.

As the State Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives couldn’t find a harmony among the parties even with discussing for more than two years, the government on July 9 pull out the amendment bill and registered a new one which was permitted by the lower house.

The Citizenship Act came into effect before the declaration of the Constitution of Nepal. It was necessary to alter the Act for the application of the constitutional necessities concerning citizenship. Though a bill to alter the Act was registered in the House of Representatives in the first meeting of the federal parliament in 2018, it was never offered for endorsement due to variances between the parties.

The bill, which the lower house has ratified, unlocks the door for thousands of children of the parents who got citizenship by birth to obtain citizenship by parentage. The Act permitted everyone born within Nepal’s territory before April 12, 1990 to get citizenship by birth. However, their children haven’t got citizenship by ancestry in the nonexistence of a law as the constitution said the provision to award them citizenship would be guided by a federal law. Some 190,000 people have attained citizenship by birth so far.

Likewise, the bill also paves the method for a child born in Nepal to a Nepali woman and whose father is anonymous to get citizenship by descent. However, the applicant’s mother must make a self-declaration that the father “cannot be identified.” She will be liable for action if it is found that the claim that the father “cannot be identified” turns out to be incorrect.

For the first time, the bill also paves the way for Non-Resident Nepalese to acquire citizenship. However, they will not be eligible to enjoy political and administrative rights. The provision will be applicable only to those who reside outside the South Asian region.

The lower house decided that the children can select either the last name and address of their mother or father while obtaining citizenship. Likewise, one can get citizenship through masculinity identity in line with the constitution. Article 12 of the constitution says a person who gets the citizenship of Nepal by parentage in accordance with the constitution may obtain a certificate of citizenship of Nepal with gender identity in the name of his or her mother or father.

The citizenship certificate will have particulars of both father and mother of the child. Presently, the citizenship certificate has particulars of father, grandfather or husband. Likewise, permitting citizenship to the orphans whose father and mother are not recognized is another provision the bill has. They will get citizenship based on the endorsements from the orphanages or the shelter house, or the respective local governments.

In addition, the children of a Nepali mother born to a foreign father too can obtain naturalized citizenship. The bill endorsed by the House of Representatives needs approval from the National Assembly. It then needs the President’s seal to come into implementation. The government is preparing to table it in the upper house.

Legal experts and lawmakers said that the amendment is discriminatory to some extent in its nature. As the bill has retained the existing provisions in the Act on marital naturalized citizenship. It says foreign women married to Nepali men can obtain naturalized citizenship once she starts the process to renounce her citizenship of the country of her origin. However, the provision doesn’t apply to foreign men married to Nepali women.

The foreign men married to Nepali women have to abide by provisions applied to any other foreigners for naturalization. They can apply for naturalized citizenship if they have any contribution in science, philosophy, arts, literature, world peace, human welfare, and industrialization, economic or social sectors and have lived for 15 years continuously in Nepal, renounced the citizenship of their country of origin, and be able to speak Nepali or other languages spoken in Nepal to qualify for naturalization.

Likewise, Article 11 (5) of the constitution says a person who is born in Nepal to a woman who is a citizen of Nepal and has resided in Nepal and whose father is unidentified shall be provided the citizenship of Nepal by descent. It additionally says citizenship by descent will be changed into naturalized citizenship if his/her father is found to be a foreign citizen. However, against the constitutional provision, the bill has a provision of taking punitive action against the mother if the father is found.

Whether to grant naturalized citizenship to foreign women married to Nepali men once they start the process to renounce citizenship of the country of their origin has been the most contentious issue among the parties. The CPN-UML, the CPN (Maoist Centre) and other fringe parties had long been demanding certain years of cooling-off period for foreign women married to Nepali men to acquire naturalized citizenship.

However, the Maoist Centre backtracked on its stance and agreed with the Nepali Congress and Madhes-based parties not to keep the cooling-off period.

While the UML agreed to other provisions in the bill, it had strong reservations about not having the cooling-off period. It said that women married to Nepali men must wait at least for seven years, as in India, before they are eligible to acquire naturalized citizenship.

Though most of the constitutional provisions are progressive, legal experts and women lawmakers say discrimination against women continues as it starts from some of the constitutional provisions. They say the constitution itself must be reviewed to safeguard fairness in obtaining citizenship.

Article 11 (2b) says a person whose father or mother was a citizen of Nepal at his or her birth can get citizenship by descent. However, Article 11 (5) of the constitution says a person who is born in Nepal to a woman who is a citizen of Nepal and has lived in Nepal and whose father is undisclosed shall be delivered citizenship of Nepal by descent.

As per the provision a mother has to announce that her husband is “unidentified” for her children to get citizenship. However, the father doesn’t even need to reference the citizenship of the mother of their children for them to get citizenship.

Likewise Article 11 (7) which says in the case of a person born to a woman who is a citizen of Nepal and wedded to a foreign citizen, the person may obtain the naturalized citizenship of Nepal in accord with the federal law if he or she has enduringly resided in Nepal and has not attained the citizenship of a foreign country also denies Article 11 (2b).

Through this amendment a demand of Madhes-based parties has been fulfilled by the government who are demanding it for long. Permitting citizenship by descent to the children of those who acquired citizenship by birth and naturalized citizenship to the foreign women married to Nepali men was their major demand which have been addressed through this amendment bill.