Nepal

According to a 2025 civil society submission to CEDAW, Dalit and Madheshi women in Nepal experience compounded discrimination when seeking birth certificates for their children due to intersecting marginalised identities. Madheshi women, who are culturally and geographically connected to India through cross-border marriages, face additional challenges in passing citizenship to their children. Some Nepali politicians have raised concerns about granting citizenship in border regions, citing threats to Nepal’s “sovereignty” and “cultural integrity.” These views perpetuate harmful stereotypes, targeting Madheshi women as risks to the state. The arbitrary levels of discretion applied by authorities in issuing documentation have often denied women and their children documentation due to discriminatory patriarchal beliefs, as well as intersectional discrimination against minority groups.