NEPAL CIVIL SOCIETY NETWORK ON CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS Submission to the Human Rights Council at the 37th Session of the Universal Periodic Review N E P A L 1. The Nepal Civil Society Network on Citizenship Rights makes this submission to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in relation to Nepal. 2. The Nepal Civil Society Network on Citizenship Rights (the Network) is a network of over 50 civil society organizations working in various sectors of human rights in Nepal. The Network was formed during the tenure of the First Constituent Assembly of Nepal with the aim to lobby equal citizenship rights in the Constitution, and has continued to carry out various advocacy and lobbying activities for the equal citizenship rights in Nepal. As a Secretariat of the Network, Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD) has been coordinating the Network since formation of the Network. 3. This submission draws on the multiple years of research, advocacy, awareness raising, litigation and direct support related experience both in Nepal and internationally, of the respective member organisations of the Network. It focuses on the problematic provisions prevailing in the Constitution of Nepal as well as other laws that restrict both men and women from obtaining legal identity, especially citizenship certificates and birth registration certificates for children, which has a detrimental impact on them and their families. UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW OF NEPAL UNDER THE SECOND CYCLE 4. Nepal was previously reviewed under the 10th session in 2011 (First Cycle) and the 23rd session in 2015 (Second Cycle). Multiple recommendations were made to Nepal in relation to the right of nationality1 during the second cycle. Of these, the following recommendations which were all accepted by Nepal are the most relevant to this submission: SN 1. 1 Recommendation Recommending State Status 1 Take necessary measures to ensure the guarantee in the Nepal’s Constitution of full equality between men and women with respect to the nationality of their children and in accordance with article 9 (2) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which Nepal has ratified Canada Accepted 2 Amend the citizenship laws to allow citizenship through either parent Hungary Accepted UN General Assembly, Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Report related to Human Rights Nepal available at:http://un.info.np/Net/NeoDocs/View/7442 accessed on 13 March 2020