KATHMANDU: Lawmakers have called for top leadership to create environment to endorse the Citizenship Act (Amendment) Bill in the ongoing session of the parliament.
They noted tens of thousands people have been denied of their status as citizen of the country in lack of law enactment.
At a program organized by Forum of Women, Law and Development (FWLD) with women lawmakers on the citizenship bill, the speakers have underlined the need to endorse the bill in the ongoing session so as to address the problem of those surviving with non-citizen status.
Lawmaker Anita Devkota shared they have been consistently lobbying with the government towards endorsing citizenship act (amendment) bill by forging consensus between the ruling alliance and opposition parties.
Lawmaker Yashoda Gurung Subedi said time has come for top leadership of all political parties since the citizenship act (amendment) bill has not been advanced due to partisan politics and biased bureaucracy in any matter.
“Issue of citizenship has been widely raised in course of budget deliberations. It has evolved as a complex challenge due to patriarchal mindset and bureaucracy with vested interest,” she added. Number of people with non-citizenship status has increased when there was no legal arrangement to address such pertinent issue in line with the Constitution.
Lawmaker Pramila Kumari Yadav demanded tacit ground works to resolve the issue as it was injustice to the child born to the Nepali citizens to have non-citizen status. She also demanded arrangement in the proposed bill to open up ways for granting citizenship certificate to the third gendered minorities.
Lawmaker Meenakshi Jha demanded probe into the cases wherein citizens of other countries were also provided with citizenship certificate.
All lawmakers attending the discussion program called for the political leadership and parliament to swiftly endorse the citizenship act (amendment) bill for implementing the constitutional right to obtain citizenship card under one’s mother’s name.
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