Citizenship-related Regulations to be tabled in Cabinet soon: DPM Shrestha

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs, Narayan Kaji Shrestha, has said the Regulations related to citizenship would be brought at the soonest.

Addressing a discussions programme on the implementation of the Citizenship Act here today, he asserted that the situation of an individual applying for citizenship certificate having to wait for months on end to get one will go away once the Regulations is brought.

The discussions programme was organised by Media Advocacy Group and the Forum for Women, Law and Development.

"We are presenting the Regulation related to citizenship in the Council of Ministers very soon. We are yet to take the inputs of the Ministry of Law on this. There will be no need for making people entitled for the citizenship certificate to wait for months," DPM and Home Minister Shrestha said, adding that the distribution of naturalized citizenship has been somewhat simplified at present.

Stating that provision has been made at present wherein one can acquire the naturalized citizenship through self-declaration and there is no requirement of documentary evidence for it as before, he said there is no provision in the Constitution by which the offspring of a Nepali woman married to a foreign male will get citizenship on the basis of descent, and that one cannot expect to have in the Regulations the provision which is not in the Constitution.

The DPM and Home Minister reiterated that the Constitution and the Act have made provision wherein the offspring born to Nepali mother can easily get citizenship certificate at present.

Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Narayan Prasad Bhattarai suggested installing bio-metric system in the citizenship. "Citizenship creates an obligation on the State and citizen's rights. All problems will be addressed if the biometric system is to be adopted in course of providing the citizenship certificate," he added.

He also suggested to the organisations taking custody of street children to do so by making the related legal documents.

Home Ministry under-secretary Krishna Bahadur Katuwal said the local level should register the vital statistics like birth, death and migration whether that is a foreign or Nepali national.

Taking questions from the participants, Under-Secretary Katuwal said that some questions still needed to be asked to the applicants while distributing the citizenship despite the latter presenting the required documents.

Executive Director of Forum, Sabin Shrestha, making a presentation on provisions in the Citizenship Act and its implementation, said children born of a Nepali mother holding citizenship by descent and many single mothers are still having problem acquiring citizenship. She observed that the Citizenship Distribution Directives and the Regulations related to citizenship are still not free from the patriarchal mindset. Shrestha demanded that the dillydally seen in issuing citizenship even when the required documents are presented should be put to an end.

Kumar Joshi, a street child who was taken custody of by an organisation since 2057 BS, said he applied for a citizenship certificate in 2069 BS, but could not get one and he had to move the Supreme Court before finally getting the citizenship after 11 years since he applied for the same.

At the programme, the participants narrated various difficulties of not having citizenship they were facing. They complained that they could not apply for government jobs, open bank account as they do not have the citizenship certificate.

They also stressed on the need of making provisions for the distribution of citizenship to the members of the LGBTIQ community in a smooth and dignified manner.

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