of Article 28 CRC. Children of Nepali women who are unable to access their mother’s citizenship as a result of gender discriminatory nationality laws are often prevented from attending public school until all children with citizenship are registered and are often forced to pay higher school fees.8 Many, because of their nationality status, will not have access to state-sponsored education. This situation continues through secondary and tertiary education, severely limiting children’s access to education and, later, job opportunities. Resultantly, stateless children are also vulnerable to exploitation, including human trafficking and child labour.9 Violation of Articles 2 and 3 CRC The situation described above also is in violation of Articles 2 and 3 CRC. The freedom from discrimination enshrined in Article 2 is undermined both by the gender discriminatory nationality law, and by its implementation which further disadvantages the children of mothers who come from ethnic minorities and/or lower castes. The prevailing situation in Nepal where nationality is only confirmed after the age of 16 and children can be rendered stateless is in clear contravention of the principle of the best interests of the child, as are the various human rights impacts that flow from the lack of a legal status, including in relation to access to education and healthcare. In fact, childhood statelessness has been described as “antithesis to the best interests of children”.10 The degree of noncompliance of discriminatory nationality laws with these guiding principles to the CRC demonstrate that they are fundamentally at odds with the Convention’s purpose. List of Issues In light of the above information, we respectfully urge the Committee to raise the following questions with the government of Nepal in its List of Issues:  What steps are proposed to urgently bring Nepal’s nationality law into compliance with its obligations under CRC Articles 2, 3, 7 & 8, in particular by ensuring children’s right to acquire a nationality, respecting the child’s right to an identity, protecting the child from discrimination, ensuring the bests interests of the child at all times and protecting all children from statelessness?  What steps are proposed to amend/repeal all discriminatory provisions that prevent women from acquiring, retaining and transferring citizenship on an equal basis with men in the Constitution, Citizenship Act and Rules, and ensure the effective implementation of the law?  What steps are proposed to ensure that all children in Nepal have equal access to education, healthcare and other socio-economic rights, regardless of their legal status? We thank you for the opportunity to submit this letter to the Committee, and remain committed to promoting equal nationality rights for all children in Nepal and throughout the world. If the Committee requires any further information or clarification, please do not hesitate to contact us. Sincerely, Forum for Women, Law and Development Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights 72 Adarsha Marg, Thapathali Kathmandu, Nepal Email: sabinlaw@hotmail.com Gestelsestraat 134, 5615 LJ Eindhoven, The Netherlands Email: Amal.deChickera@InstituteSI.org c/o Women’s Refugee Commission 122 East 42nd St., 11th Floor New York, NY 10168 Email: CatherineH@wrcommission.org 8 Maureen Lynch and Melanie Teff, “Childhood Statelessness,” Forced Migration Review, Vol. 32, available at: http://www.fmreview.org/FMRpdfs/FMR32/31-33.pdf 9 Open Society Justice Initiative, Children’s Right to a Nationality, available at: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Women/WRGS/RelatedMatters/OtherEntities/OSJIChildrenNationalityFactsheet.pdf 10 Nubian Minors v. Kenya, African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of Children, 22 March 2011, 002/2009.