Experts working in the field of human rights have underscored the need for more work to ensure that no one is deprived of fundamental rights such as birth registration and acquiring citizenship certificates due to gender and other biases.

A workshop organised by the Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD) at Pataleban Vineyard Resort, Chandragiri on June 19-20 brought together lawyers, human rights activists and mediapersons, among others, to discuss hassles people face while obtaining their legal identity.

Advocate Sabin Shrestha, executive director of the FWLD, said that women face great difficulty when applying independently for their citizenship or birth certificates for their children because of bureaucratic hassles and cultural practices.

Senior Advocate Mira Dhungana highlighted the number of people who are denied citizenship, examining gender-related issues in Nepal's current laws.

She shed light on the challenges faced by Nepali women, their children, and foreign men married to Nepali women in obtaining citizenship documents.

Dhungana said that the biases, often influenced by patriarchal views, force women to rely on male household members for legal identity documents. “The laws are not gender discriminatory but the people in administration create a difficult situation due to their patriarchal mindset,” she said.

Kamala Panthi from Radio Kantipur said that there seems to be at least one problem related to citizenship in each household.

Meanwhile, experts and other participants called for more media coverage on legal identity issues.

“We hope that the media fraternity will continue to play a vital role in addressing the discrepancies in the implementation and procedural aspects of birth registration and citizenship,” said Binu Lama, advocate and programme coordinator of the FWLD.