Joint Submission to the Human Rights Council at the 37th Session of the Universal Periodic Review Nepal Introduction 1. The Citizenship Affected People’s Network (CAPN), Community Action Centre Nepal (CAC Nepal), Dignity Initiative, Nepal Institute of Peace (NIP), Statelessness Network Asia Pacific (SNAP), Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights (GCENR) and Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI) make this submission to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on the right to a nationality and human rights challenges pertaining to statelessness in Nepal. 2. CAPN is a civil society network of over 1800 affected people in Nepal. Formed in 2015 by individuals severely affected by the discriminatory nationality law, the group finds creative and powerful ways to advocate for equal citizenship rights and the eradication of statelessness. 3. CAC Nepal is a non-profit, non-governmental and social organisation working to improve living standards of women and girls living in extreme conditions of poverty and marginalisation, in order to enable them to develop and participate in their community. CAC-Nepal also works on women’s citizenship rights. 4. Dignity Initiative1 is a Kathmandu-based not-for-profit, non-government organisation, which works on the issues of social exclusion and human rights in Nepal, with a special focus on the Dalit Community. Dignity Initiative focuses on research, knowledge production, academic activism and policy advocacy to advocate for the rights of the Dalit community. 5. NIP2 is a non-governmental, non-profit, non-partisan organisation managed by a group of human right activists committed to peace, justice and human rights in Nepal. NIP has been working on human rights and internally displaced persons since 2002. 6. SNAP3 is a civil society coalition with the goal of promoting collaboration on addressing statelessness in Asia and the Pacific. Launched in November 2016, SNAP seeks to promote collaboration through three focus areas: developing resources for evidence-based action, facilitating capacity strengthening opportunities and providing technical support to SNAP’s members. 1 For more information, see: https://dignityinitiatives.org/ For more information, see: http://www.idps-nepal.org/ 3 For more information, see: https://www.statelessnessnetworkasiapacific.org/ 2 1