NEPAL THIS CHAPTER LOOKS MORE CLOSELY AT RIGHT TO NATIONALITY, DOCUMENTATION AND LEGAL STATUS; RIGHT TO HEALTH AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC RIGHTS,4 AND MAKES THE FOLLOWING CALL TO ACTION TO THE GOVERNMENT AND OTHER RELEVANT STAKEHOLDERS: Due to gender discriminatory nationality laws, a patriarchal social structure and low birth registration rates, Nepal may have one of the largest stateless populations in the world.5 Hundreds of thousands of persons who should be recognised as Nepali citizens, have no legal identity or status. Without status, Nepal’s ‘non-citizens’ face disadvantage, exclusion and discrimination throughout their lives, forced to live in the margins of society. They cannot own or inherit land, travel freely, study, practice certain professions, open a bank account or even get a sim card.6 Although there are no up-to-date and accurate statistics of statelessness in the country, The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown policies have had a negative impact on the livelihood of those who are stateless and at risk of statelessness in Nepal, exacerbating their pre-existing vulnerabilities as a result of their lack of nationality. it.7 In Nepal it is projected that around 6.7 miltion are actually stateless.8 - Statelessness and the risk of statelessness is caused and exacerbated by Nepal’s gender-discriminatory Constitutional provisions and the Citizenship Act of 2063 (2006).9 The Act was recently amended through an ordinance that has neither expanded nor restricted the constitutional provisions.10 The law denies Nepali women equal rights in conferring nationality to their children. The Constitution of Nepal11 states that a child born in Nepal to a Nepali mother whose father cannot be traced, can acquire citizenship by descent, however if it is later determined that the father is a foreigner, the child will lose their citizenship by descent and must become a naturalised citizen. The legal procedure requires the Nepali mother to submit a self-declaration stating that the father of the child cannot be traced and is not a foreigner. If the statement is later found to be untrue, the nationality of the child is cancelled. Additionally, street children and other foundlings who are not raised in an orphanage do not have legal means to apply for nationality and are stateless. CAPN Founder, Deepti Gurung RIGHT TO NATIONALITY, DOCUMENTATION AND LEGAL STATUS 2020), CDOs were closed, causing delays to citizenship application processes. Those with applications pending were further unable to reach ENSURE EQUAL ACCESS TO FOOD AND ALL OTHER RELIEF MEASURES FOR THOSE WORKING IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY AND THOSE WHO HAVE LOST THEIR INCOME DUE TO COVID-19. ENSURE EQUAL AND FREE ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE AND MENTAL HEALTHCARE SERVICES FOR STATELESS PEOPLE, THOSE AT RISK OF STATELESSNESS AND OTHER MINORITIES, INCLUDING BY ALLOCATING ADEQUATE SPACE IN GOVERNMENT HOSPITALS TO THOSE WHO CANNOT AFFORD PRIVATE HEALTHCARE. IMMEDIATELY REMOVE IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS AND ASSOCIATED FEES TO RECEIVE COVID-19 AND NON-COVID-19 HEALTHCARE IN GOVERNMENT HOSPITALS, INCLUDING COVID-19 TESTING AND VACCINES. cases.14 Following the lockdown, civil documenDuring this time, people were able to register for lived – as the second wave of pandemic hit Ne- NEPALI CONSTITUTION TO REMOVE GENDER DISCRIMINATORY PROVISIONS AND ENSURE WOMEN CAN CONFER CITIZENSHIP TO THEIR CHILDREN AND SPOUSES ON AN EQUAL BASIS AS MEN. Statelessness is also a product of the xenoand the jingoistic political agendas of the central political parties. The Madheshi community and in particular the Madheshi Dalits are most affected by this as they have the least access 12 As Nepal shares an open border with India and there is a culture of cross-border marriage, there are a number of children born to such mixed nationality marriages who are at risk of statelessness because of the chauvinistic bureaucracy which is dominated by the hilly ethnic groups. Other groups who are stateless or are at risk of statelessness include the ‘Lhotshamps’ who were deprived of their Bhutanese nationality and displaced from Bhutan to Nepal during the 1990s. The total number of displaced Lhotshamps is over 100,000; 19,573 of whom still reside in refugee camps in Nepal. Descendants of Tibetans exiled from Tibet in the 1950s are also at risk. Despite many being born in Nepal, they are still at risk of statelessness.13 15 CAPN Field Study Respondent, Bikash Mandal, 22 CITIZENSHIP ACT TO ELIMINATE ALL GENDER DISCRIMINATORY PROVISIONS AND BRING IT INTO COMPLIANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS. RIGHT TO HEALTH Private healthcare in Nepal is available to those who are able to afford it. Those with citizenship issues tend to work in the informal economy and earn daily wages. Access to healthcare is barrier. Government hospitals are offering free healthcare for pandemic related treatment, however due to the rates of infection the hospitals are unable to cope with the number of people remandatory to receive vaccinations in Nepal. Any form of ID is acceptable and in situations where an individual has nothing to provide i.e., they 45