Ranju Gurung (name changed) is worried about the future of her seven year old daughter she had conceived while working as a domestic worker in Kuwait.

Apart from economic burden for raising her daughter, 33-year -old Gurung’s primary concern is obtaining citizenship for her child. For this very purpose she had married a Tamang man she had met at her tea shop in Dharan three years ago.

But now he has denied to give his surname to her daughter. “My parents have accepted me but they still keep their distance towards my daughter. There is no one who can help me and my daughter now,” said Gurung.

The Interim Constitution has a provision that allows passing on citizenship by either of the parents to a child. However, there is no law that allows mother to pass on citizenship to her child. The new constitution that is being formulated also bars women the right to pass on citizenship to their children.  

The draft constitution has a provision which states that children who are born prior to promulgation of the constitution must prove that both their parents are Nepali nationals in order to obtain citizenship by descent.  Article 11. 5 mentions that children born to Nepali mothers who cannot establish the identity of their biological fathers would receive Nepali citizenship, on a condition that their citizenship would be converted into naturalised citizenship if their fathers are found to be foreign nationals.

Rights activists argue that single mothers have been hit hard by this gender discriminatory provision. “The state just does not acknowledge the existence of single mothers. How can a state provide citizenship to people saying that whereabouts of the father is not known? Imagine the psychological trauma that will cause to the bearer,” said Deepti Gurung, coordinator of the alliance of people who have not been able pass on citizenship in the name of mother.

A study jointly conducted by Shakti Samuha and Women Rehabilitation Centre last year had found that obtaining citizenship for their children was one of the top three problems for trafficked survivors.

Stakeholders claim that migrant women who return home pregnant or with babies are vulnerable to fall prey to physical and psychological abuses.

“These woman  in order to give their child social acceptance and citizenship often times fall victims of torture and abuses,” said Charimaya Tamang, founder of Shakti Samuha.

Bijaya Rai Shrestha, director of social organisation Pourakhi, claims there are around 300 migrant women who have come home either with children or pregnant. The issue of citizenship has not yet become necessity as many of these children have not come of age yet. “But soon all these children will need citizenship and we wonder how they will get one,” Shrestha said.