NFA and CAPN jointly produced a podcast on statelessness titled ‘State of Statelessness’. The State of Statelessness (SOS) is an audio-video podcast series dedicated to the stories of persons affected by the discriminatory citizenship legal provisions in Nepal. The first season produced ten episodes where stateless persons, lawyers, and activists shared their stories of being affected by statelessness or working on the issue.

  • Episode 1

Neha Gurung is a former affected person, who attained her citizenship after a huge court battle with help of her mother (Deepti Gurung) and FWLD. Deepti Gurung is an activist, closely associated with and affected by the discriminatory provision of citizenship herself. A single mother of two daughters has been fighting to provide equal rights to citizenship for all.

Link to the full video:  State of Statelessness (SOS) Podcast – Episode 1 – Deepti Gurung and Neha Gurung

 

 

  • Episode 2

Sabin Shrestha is an executive director of the Forum for women and Law Development (FWLD), working for equal rights to citizenship. FWLD has also been involved in filing noteworthy Public Interest Litigations (PILs), a tool used for reform and for the effective enforcement of laws. FWLD has also been successful in providing citizenship to many affected persons including founding members of the Citizenship Affected People’s Network (CAPN).

Link to the full video:  State of Statelessness (SOS) Podcast – Episode 2 – Sabin Shrestha

 

 

  • Episode 3

Indrajit Saphi, an affected person and a fighter who has been fighting for his citizenship rights for years but, has been actively conducting street protests for the last 15 months. Currently conducting protests to support the amendment bill. We bring to you his story, his struggles, the reality of his life, and most importantly his identity that has been questioned in every stage of his life.

Link to the full video: State of Stateless (SOS) Podcast – Episode 3 – Indrajit Saphi

 

 

 

  • Episode 4

Indu Tuladhar is an advocate and a researcher, she has extensive experience in the areas of research, policy analysis, legal research, and gender issues including overall development issues, and peace and conflict studies. She has been associated with the issue of citizenship for more than 30 years. She is one of the few leading legal experts in Nepal working in the area of legal research and policy reform in the county in the area of gender justice and the rule of law. She has reviewed and drafted a number of laws and policies, including the criminal code, civil code, domestic violence act, legal aid policy drafted by the Ministry of Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Legal Aid Act, the National Women Commission, National Dalit Commission, and National Inclusion Commission Bills. CAPN presents her expert opinion on the existing law, amendment bill, the overall situation of citizenship, and the impact of the citizenship bill in the country.

Link to the full video: State of Statelessness(SOS)Podcast – Episode – 4 – Indu Tuladhar

 

 

  • Episode 5

Diwakar Chettri is a person with lived experience of an affected person. He obtained citizenship at the age of 45 through the help of the litigation process. He has been actively working for the movement to support the equal right to citizenship, and also was a big part of the movement “citizenship in the name of the mother”. Through this podcast, he has listed out his struggles through the journey of obtaining citizenship and the pain of not having an identity in his own country, and not being able to pursue and exercise his right to education and employment.

Link to the full video: State of Statelessness(SOS)Podcast – Episode – 5 – Diwakar Chettri

 

 

  • Episode 6

Mallika Balami is a media student born and brought up in an orphanage. She is a fighter, who has been rigorously fighting for her identity, and her citizenship. She has a court case going on for obtaining citizenship in the name of her mother, CAPN presents her story and the struggles behind living like a stateless person in her own state.

Link to the full video: State of Statelessness(SOS) – Podcast – Episode – 6 – Mallika Balami

 

 

  • Episode 7

Arjun Sah is a human rights activist, and an affected person from the discriminatory provision of citizenship. Inspite of receiving a judgement from the court and winning the long battle Arjun Sah has not been able to receive citizenship on the name of mother.

Link to the full video: State of Statelessness(SOS) – Podcast – Episode – 7- Arjun Sah

 

 

  • Episode 8

Suraj Hazare Dahal is an affected person as he is not able to obtain citizenship in his mother’s name due to the discriminatory citizenship provisions in the law. Through this podcast, he has listed out his struggles, the pain of not having an identity and being treated as an outsider in his own country. We bring to you his story, his struggles, and the reality of his life.

Link to the full video:State of Statelessness (SOS)-Podcast-Episode-8- Suraj Hazare Dahal 

 

 

  • Episode 9

Yabesh Adhikari is a person with lived experience of statelessness. He struggled to get citizenship from the name of his mother. He talks about the deep-rooted patriarchy in our society and how our laws and constitution are built around it. Through this podcast, he has listed out his struggles through the journey of obtaining citizenship, the toll it took on his mental health, and the pain of not having an identity in his own country.

Link to the full video: State of Statelessness (SOS)-Podcast-Episode-9- Yabesh Adhikari

 

 

  • Episode 10

Sushma Gautam is an advocate working at Forum for women and Law Development (FWLD). For the past 27 years, she has worked on various thematic issues and her first case focusing on the issue of statelessness was in 2063. She has been successful in providing citizenship to almost 70 affected persons including founding members of the Citizenship Affected People’s Network (CAPN). She is extremely sensitive towards the issue and has worked tirelessly to provide citizenship to stateless people. Through this podcast, she has shared her knowledge and experience while working on the issue of statelessness.

Link to the full video: State of Statelessness (SOS)-Podcast-Episode-10- Sushma Gautam