Report on Citizenship Law: Nepal in discrimination against women in society, and the perpetuation of gender inequality through women’s second class citizenship. Women who were divorced, abandoned or widowed were rendered stateless in their marriage and similarly left without any right associated with citizenship. The denial of equal citizenship rights had a devastating effect on many women and children, unnecessarily limiting their mobility, access to services and opportunities”.14 There were some changes with regard to the citizenship rights of women with the 2007 Interim Constitution, promulgated immediately after the peace accord, which was signed with a commitment to restructure the state for inclusive democracy. Parliament passed a resolution guaranteeing citizenship through the mother. In conferring citizenship to children, the new law requires that children born to a foreign husband be born in Nepal and have permanent residence in Nepal. According to the present constitution, women of foreign nationality who marry Nepalese citizens can acquire Nepalese citizenship after starting the process to renounce their former citizenship. However, a man of foreign nationality who marries a Nepalese woman is not entitled to acquire Nepalese citizenship by virtue of marriage. Thus, Nepalese women have been discriminated against in comparison to their male counterparts. Although the laws and constitution have been changed, there is still much discrimination against women in the acquisition of citizenship. The citizenship law is still discriminatory on the basis of marriage. There are also many restrictions on mothers’ rights to confer citizenship on their children. A mother cannot easily confer citizenship on her child and the new legal provision still does not allow women to confer citizenship on an alien husband, which is a denial of full and equal citizenship rights.15 Women are forced to live in abusive relationships, they become victims of domestic violence, physical and mental abuse, and are forced to endure all of this because they are economically dependent upon their husbands.16 The reason for being economically dependent upon the husband is the denial of citizenship rights to women. Women do not have an independent identity of their own, which forces them to become dependent either on their father or their husband. 3. Current citizenship regime 3.1. Acquisition of Nepalese citizenship Article 10(1) of the current 2015 Constitution recognises acquisition of citizenship as a right of all Nepalese citizens. Previous constitutions never recognised citizenship as a right. Additionally, Article 10(2) states that there is a single federal citizenship with provincial identity. 14 15 16 Ibid. p. 85. Ibid. FWLD (3), A study on discriminatory laws against women, Dalits, ethnic communities, religious minorities and persons with disabilities (Kathmandu: FWLD, 2009) 25. RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2017/8 - © 2017 Author 5