Visiting Fellowships

What is the focus of your fellowship with PMCS?

My fellowship entails preparing a research proposal on the 'Impact of advantaged group members or allies in addressing statelessness'. The topic tries to understand the current role and influence of non-impacted persons in the global statelessness field while reflecting on my own role as a member of the advantaged group in bringing about changes in law, policy, norms, and values that contribute to addressing the statelessness problem in our respective contexts.

What brought you to work on statelessness?

I started working on the issue ten years ago in Nepal. Nepal is a country that has millions of stateless people. As I pivoted from corporate law to human rights law, I got the opportunity to participate in advocacy initiatives against discriminatory nationality laws in Nepal. Interactions, engagements, and collaborations with affected groups and stateless activists helped me realize that I could contribute to addressing the problem which led me to continue working on the issue.

Could you name a highlight of your work on statelessness?

During my work at Nationality For All (NFA), we incubated an affected persons-led organization in Nepal named the Citizenship Affected People's Network (CAPN) for one year. The incubation ended in December 2023. CAPN is now a self-sustaining national civil society organization led by persons impacted by statelessness in Nepal and is well known for its work regionally and globally. This is undoubtedly a highlight of my work on statelessness.

What are your future plans for working on statelessness?

I plan to keep contributing to the regional and global work on statelessness with the larger goal of transforming the statelessness field to be led by persons impacted by statelessness, through my engagement with the Asia Pacific Regional Coalition on Statelessness named Statelessness and Dignified Citizenship Coalition - Asia Pacific (SDCC - AP), and the Global Movement Against Statelessness.