Nepal, Sept. 5 -- The Constitution of Nepal guarantees every child the right to name, birth registration and identity. Section 4 of the Act relating to Children, 2018, also states that every child has the right to identification and birth registration. But, unfortunately, for more than 5,000 Nepali children, this constitutional provision is limited to paper, as they are yet to get their birth certificates. In the absence of a document as basic as this, children are denied not only educational opportunities and other training programmes but also citizenship, effectively rendering them stateless. One cannot access any job, learn skills, get married, inherit property, or get health services, among other things, without citizenship.

The root...