The Second Cycle 20. In advance of the Nepal’s review during the Second UPR Cycle, ISI, the GCENR and other partners made a UPR submission on the right to nationality and statelessness in the country.15 A number of recommendations proposed in this submission were made to Nepal during its review. The following recommendations related to women’s nationality rights and addressing statelessness were accepted by Nepal: a. 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); b. Amend the citizenship laws to allow citizenship through either parent (Hungary); c. Implement measures to ensure that the rights to acquire, transfer and retain citizenship are extended equally to all women and their children (New Zealand); d. 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); e. Amend legislation on nationality in order to be able to grant Nepali nationality through either parent (Spain); f. 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). g. Ratify the Refugee Convention, the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (Portugal).16 21. Whilst all of these recommendations were supported by Nepal, it incorrectly claimed that they were already implemented or in the process of implementation. As discussed below, it is clear both in law and practice that the above recommendations have not been successfully implemented. 22. Nepal also claimed that the 2015 Constitution of Nepal (Constitution) followed the principle of equality and non-discrimination, and that women were empowered to transfer their citizenship to their children and the Federal Parliament was mandated to enact federal laws to provide detailed provisions on the acquisition of citizenship.17 However, this claim does not accurately reflect the fact that Nepali women are still denied the right to confer nationality on their children in most circumstances as a result of discriminatory nationality provisions, explored in greater detail below. Nepal’s International Obligations 23. Nepal has international obligations to protect the right to a nationality and protect the rights of stateless persons on the basis of UN treaties to which it is a party. These include: a. the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Article 24(3); 15 See Nepal Civil Society Network of Citizenship Rights, the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights and the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, ‘Joint Submission to the Human Rights Council at the 23rd Session of the Universal Periodic Review: Nepal’ (2015), available at https://files.institutesi.org/NepalUPR2015.pdf. 16 United Nations Human Rights Council, Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Nepal, 31st sess, UN Doc A/HRC/31/9 (23 December 2015), p. 19-22. 17 United Nations Human Rights Council, Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Nepal, 31st sess, UN Doc A/HRC/31/9 (23 December 2015), p 9. 4