“Haami Nepali Hamro Nepal”. Campaign for Legal Identity for Facilitating the Legal Entitlements of Dalits, Women and Madhesi’s in 8 ward Palika Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan city of Kailali district.
Project background :- The problems of citizenship in Nepal carry a legacy of a history of discrimination and marginalization of Dalit women and Madhesis. As a result, many people are left stateless and have no rights. If constitutional and political reform is to be meaningful, this issue needs to be addressed to ensure that citizenship, a fundamental right for all people, is available for all.
Citizenship signifies a person’s identity and nationality. A person who attains a country’s citizenship becomes a bona-fide citizen with firm rights and responsibilities. The identity of a person without citizenship is limited to being a stateless non-citizen. Hence, it is every person’s fundamental right to obtain the citizenship of a country. Despite its importance, citizenship is not accessible to all people in Nepal.
The principle of attaining citizenship is closely tied with equality. This issue remains a major problem for our country, as it is even more severe for women, many of whom remain deprived of their citizenship rights.
Existing gaps that your organization find out What is the problem the project seeks to address? At present citizenship it is problematic for many members of excluded groups. Particularly for women and Dalits who cannot pass citizenship rights on their children and Although the legal code does not require documents like land ownership as a basis for citizenship officials continue to demand it. This requirement has excluded many landless Terai Dalits and Janajatis from basic rights and protection of citizenship. The citizenship right of an individual in Nepal is beset with following problems:
- Patriarchal mindset why does a women require citizenship
- Poverty
- Not knowing the importance of citizenship certificate
- Perceiving citizenship document as unnecessary
- Finding it difficult to access government offices
- Cumbersome process
- Demand for production of unnecessary documents by officials
- Weak structure of state to detect fraudulent applicant of citizenship certificate
- Rigid and unjust policies
- Gender and caste bias among government officials
Impact of stateless:
- Unable to exercise ones right
- No table to use services and facilities provided by government
- Unable to exercise the right of franchise
- Unable to seek employment
- Deprived from old age widow and other social security
- Unable to register organization , business industries etc