SN 5. Recommendation Recommending State Status 3 Ensure that provisions in the revised Constitution guarantee the equal rights of women as well as their right to acquire, retain and transfer citizenship Sierra Leone Accepted 4 Amend legislation on nationality in order to be able to grant Nepali nationality through either parent Spain Accepted 5 Implement measures to ensure that the rights to acquire, transfer and retain citizenship are extended equally to all women and their children New Zealand Accepted 6 Consider amending the Constitution to allow women to convey their citizenship to their children and foreign spouses on an equal basis with men United States of America Noted 7 Ratify the conventions on refugees and stateless persons Portugal Noted As this submission evidences, despite accepting several such recommendations related to enhancing equality in the area of citizenship right, Nepal’s failure to amend discriminatory citizenship law has had significant negative impact on a large portion of the Nepali population both men and women. Effective access to legal identity documents, mainly birth registration certificates and citizenship certificates, help ensure access to fundamental social, economic, and political rights. It is noted that Nepal implemented mobile registration in remote areas in 2007 and again in 2013 which led to more than 3.7 million individuals obtaining citizenship certificates, who had previously faced significant logistical and geographic challenges. However, a significant proportion of the population of Nepal who have so far not been able to obtain these main legal identity documents are effectively excluded from most national assistance (social security) and development programmes and cannot exercise their rights as citizens. NEPAL’S INTERNATIONAL LEGAL OBLIGATIONS 6. 2. 3. Nepal has ratified the majority of the international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and its Optional Protocols, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Nepal has not ratified the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons or the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Nevertheless, it is notable that Nepal ratified the CEDAW and the CRC without any reservation, which contain important protections against gender discrimination in nationality law2 and the prevention of childhood statelessness.3 Thus, the Government of Nepal therefore obligated to domesticate its international obligations protecting discrimination in nationality law into the national legislations and to create enabling environment to ensure the rights guaranteed by these international instruments. Article 9, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women Article 7 & 8, the Convention on the Rights of the Child 2