User talk:Deeptigurung

Woman’s Human Rights in Nepal is a just a Joke -By Deepti Gurung

Fugitives by Birth There is a wrong notion that in Nepal children can get citizenship solely in their mother’s name.

Attention women of Nepal! In the name of national security your child cannot obtain a Nepalese citizenship in your name. As per the draft of the new constitution citizenships of both parents must be submitted to obtain a Nepali citizenship certificate. This will deny citizenship to thousands of children and force them to live like fugitives in their own country. Punishment for the crime of being born in Nepal?

My elder daughter who recently appeared for her SLC exams will be 17 years old this year. As a good daughter and a student she has always worked hard and I can clearly see the budding attributes of a good citizen in her. Two years back we’d been told by legal advisors, district administration officials and higher dignitaries that very soon our new constitution will address the problem of citizenship. They said that the new constitution directives shall clearly state that citizenships can be issued in the name of one’s mother, too. Oh, how many times me and my daughters visited temples and lighted lamps praying for peace in our beloved country and immediate promulgation of the new constitution. Every now and then I would check with the lawyers to know about the progress being made.

Yesterday my lawyer called up and dropped the bomb. I was informed that the new constitution will limit the chances of children receiving citizenship in their mother’s name. Till date, to acquire a citizenship, only the endorsement of one’s father’s was required but now names and identification of both parent’s will be made compulsory. Like me there are many people whose story the world has never come to know about. My children are prisoners in their own motherland for no crime. My mom died when I was eight years old and I lost my father when I was in grade 10. I was 17 at the time. During my father’s last years I had joined a private school as a teacher to help him financially and also took up the job of the hostel warden for additional remuneration. The principal's son who was 26 years old, 9 years senior to me, fell in love with me. Since we belonged to different castes things didn't work out as I’d thought. I got pregnant. The guy abandoned me and his family got him married to a girl from a well off family. I started giving tuition classes to support myself. I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl at a hospital with no one around me. My father died two months later. I worked very hard to bring up my daughter. With the little money I earned I managed to take up some small professional courses which helped me get a better job at a five star hotel with better pay. As time passed I realized I would never be welcomed in a decent family and would never be able to start a fresh new life ever again.

Later I met a guy who promised me a beautiful married life. I fell in love again. I wished to provide a beautiful and wholesome family life to my child. We geared up for a new life together. He wanted a son. I got pregnant again. I gave a birth to another beautiful daughter. Disappointed with our girl child he started abusing me, we separated and he married one of his office colleagues. I had no choice but to fight for my children's future. I fought. I did what I thought was right. I worked extremely hard. I dedicated my whole time in my work and my children’s well-being. I put them in a very good school. Both daughters are very good in their studies.

I have a citizenship issued in my father’s name. But they say I cannot pass on my name to my children. My two previous husbands never bothered to support us in anyway. My elder daughter wants to be a doctor for which I have dedicated my whole life. It was hard for me to tell my daughter that they have been refused their basic human rights of being a citizen of this country. The officials say I have to bring their father with all the evidence. I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean. They say I have to go to the very person who robbed me of my innocence at the age of 17 and beg him for my child's citizenship. Even if I go and beg I know he won't comply, as he wants to keep it hidden from his social circles and also there will be a fear of claim to his property which I do not want. Let’s assume he agrees, even so it will be a symbolical tag and my official acceptance that the asshole is the master of me and my daughter’s life without whose surname we won’t even exist!

A decade later I met my childhood friend through Facebook. We met after 25 years. He too had a difficult childhood and is a polio victim. His father committed suicide when he was five and his younger brother was just a year old. His mother remarried and along with the two sons she restarted her life with the new man and later bore him a daughter

We have a patriarchal society in our country. The existence of all Nepali women can be only certified by their men folk, the father, brother, husband, father in law, brother in law, uncles etc. My friend and his brother, when they became of age, were refused Nepali citizenship. These two bother were born right here in Nepal, educated in a Nepali school and brought up by a Nepali mother and a stepfather. They have no connection with their real father's family at all. My friend was once a social studies teacher during when he taught around 1500 students to be good citizens. Fond of teaching he joined and completed post-diploma course in education but he was refused his certificate because he does not have a Nepali citizenship certificate. And because of which he could also never apply for a driving license. He cannot own property, vote or have his own bank account. He can neither have a passport which obviously means he cannot travel to anywhere in the world. He quit his teaching job that he loved so much as he would not get a teaching license. He joined another company but again after few months he had to quit because of the citizenship issue. His brother shares the same fate. In Nepal, if a father does not have a citizenship then his children cannot have one either. My friend and his brother are living like fugitives for no reason. They are very good human beings and have never hurt or done anything bad to anyone. My friend is nearing forty. I feel immense pain as my country refuses him of his existence. His brother cannot marry because his fiancé fears the same fate will befall their children later.

Nepal is a member of CEDAW and has signed an understanding which  clearly says that “no one in the country will be stateless. Mothers are given equal rights as fathers.” If a father is Nepali and a mother is foreigner, the mother and child will get the citizenship and can enjoy all the legal rights right in front of us. We have never done anything illegal in our life time. Why can’t my daughters, my friend and his brother have a Nepali citizenship?

I have another friend who was married to an Indian guy. After she gave birth to a daughter she used to be physically abused. Both the mother and the daughter went through terrible torture. She was able to divorce her husband after a lengthy legal fight. She is a very quite lady and a very hard worker. She has always lived in Nepal and raised her daughter with great difficulty after the divorce. She too is facing the similar fate.

In the process of trying to get a citizenship for my daughter, I’ve devised the following skewed equations concerning Nepali citizenship-

1. Nepali father + Foreign mother = Nepali child 2. Nepali Mother + Foreign Father = stateless child 3. Raped Mother + Fatherless Child= stateless child 4. Disgraced Mother + Unknown Father = stateless child 5. Unmarried Mother + Unclaimed Father = stateless child 6. Divorced Mother + Father not in mood to own up= stateless child 7. Working mother + Drunkard, Criminal Father = Nepali father’s Nepali Child

Why? They say that the national security will be compromised if citizenships are issued in mother’s name! They say Indians and Chinese will also try to obtain the citizenship of Nepal!

Now, consider a more bizarre equation. Congress Mother + German Father = Nepali Daughter Congress Ama + German Father + Nepali Daughter + Bangladeshi son-in- law = Nepali Citizen

Equally bizarre is the regulations outlined in new Nepal's new regulations! Stateless children can get a citizenship in the name of their mother BUT the following documents are required.

1.	Father’s citizenship 2.	Father and mother’s marriage registration certificate 3.	Recommendation letter from District Development Officer or Village Development Officer confirming that this child has been conceived (by these two culprits!)

Going through Nepal’s citizenship act, I came across another interesting clause. It says any unclaimed children found in the territory within the country will be considered Nepali till the time their biological parents are identified. Hmm… so this made me think, should I have abandoned my daughters in the street, Hospital bed, bank of the river or the footsteps of temple as soon as they were born?? Should I really have left them that way?? At least that would give them a right to be citizens of our country. Another thought crossed my mind. As per the fear of nation that Indians and Chinese breed might conquer and demolish our pure breed from the face of earth. Here it would be so easy for both the countries to smuggle all those children from their orphanages and leave them in our territory. How many such cases do we know exist? None! Why this Hypocrisy then? So this clearly shows that the so called threat to our “Patriotism” is just a hollow lame excuse and a stupid flowery blind to keep us in dark. This law is as bizzare as another law in Nepal- "if a man is injured in a vehicle accidents here in Nepal, The driver will have to bear all the medical cost along with lifelong financial support to the victim. But if the victim is killed in a road accident then the driver will only have to bear approximately 2 lakh Rupees (2352$) and approximately 2 years of jail service." there has been many cases when the driver reverses his vehicle and re-try to kill the victim in such cases.

I had great faith in Sapana Malla’s fight for women’s rights- A lawyer who is fighting for woman's rights. She being a member of Constituent Assembly we were very hopeful about the real change in terms of our rightful legal rights, but it seems like we have been duped. Or rather she has been duped by the very honest, clean and wonderful great leaders of the assembly tasked with taking Nepal to a brighter future.

This is not just an issue. It is something very ‘real’ and thousands of Nepali women and their children are suffering. My suggestion is if a husband and wife are living separately for more than 5 years and the child is been brought up solely by the mother without any financial help from father then the law must give the right to the mother to pass on her name to her child. How are we a threat to the national security? The state should stop being a hypocrite and grant us our rights immediately. Women should not be treated only as ATM machines (our economic and financial contributions) and manpower factories for the government and the country. Honor women and mothers of your society and give them the equal rights.

If nothing can be done the government should write a letter to God stating that the country is returning some of god’s creation back. The government should round up all stateless children, bring them to Tundikhel, and offer a mahayagya by burning them all in a funeral pyre. Or it can establish Nazi-era gas chambers to finish off those bastards!

Or is there any other options??