Amending law on dual citizenship needed to ensure man-woman equal rights
Wednesday, 8 August 2007
A Z M Anas
Bangladesh should revisit its citizenship law to ensure equal opportunities for both male and female diaspora members to harness the full development potential of dual citizenship.
"To reap the maximum benefits from dual citizenship, the law should ensure that citizenship is passed on through both mother and father," says a study report on "Role of dual and multiple citizenship (DMC) for development."
"Foreign spouses, particularly women, should not renounce their citizenship of their country of origin to acquire the citizenship of the country of their spouses." adds the report, prepared for the World Bank.
According to the existing law, foreign women will get Bangladeshi citizenship if they apply through their spouses, but they must jettison their original citizenship.
"This is certainly a discriminatory provision and the government can look into the possibility of changing it," Tasneem Siddiqui, who co-authored the report, said.
Siddiqui, who teaches political science at Dhaka University, argued that as women were increasingly becoming bread-earners and involved in trade and investment, if amended, the law would help Bangladesh tap the potential of the diapora.
She suggested that the government should act as a facilitator in encouraging the Bangladeshi diaspora to invest in a big way.
Citizenship in Bangladesh is passed on through the father; therefore, children can get citizenship through their father, but not through their mother.
Although no authoritative study was yet to be conducted to quantify the number of dual citizens, estimates put the number of Bangladeshi migrants living abroad, including the diaspora, at 4.0 million.
The study, which is based on the experiences of Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, Ireland, Greece and the Dominican Republic, concludes that the DMC facilitates increased trade, investment and social changes, leading to economic development of the country of origin in qualitative terms.
Facilitating DMC can also become an important vehicle for sharing of cross-border expertise and technology transfers, the report pointed out.
So far, the bulk of diaspora investments in Bangladesh has come into the sectors like real estate, trade, manufacturing, transport, information technology, textile, agro-based small industries, tourism, health services, leather and food processing.
Referring to the case of Nandan Group, the study noted that it was involved in a wide variety of ventures like entertainment, agro-processing and chain supermarket.
It, however, lauded the Bangladesh government's measures to attract diaspora investment, particularly introduction of the Wage Earners' Scheme, Dollar Bond, and Premium Bond.
The country has also decided to offer the Important Non-Resident Bangladeshi (INRB) status to expatriates, who will wire home a certain amount of remittance or invest in the country.
According to official figures, remittances sent by overseas Bangladeshis totalled US$6.0 billion in the just-out fiscal, dwarfing other inflows of foreign exchange, notably foreign aid and foreign direct investment.
Back in 1978, Bangladesh introduced the dual citizenship in a bid to attract the diaspora investment, but the overseas Bangladeshis have begun to invest in the homeland on a large scale since the 1990s.
The country had amended "The Bangladesh Citizenship (Temporary provision) Order 1972, allowing a person of Bangladeshi origin to obtain the dual citizenship if they were also citizens of any countries of Australia, Europe or North America.
Like any citizen of Bangladesh, dual citizens enjoy an array of facilities such as voting rights, purchase of properties, running business, and access to government services, public education and banking.
By now, 89 countries across the world have introduced dual and multiple citizenship, enabling both countries of origin and destination to reap social and economic benefits on their respective sides.
Bangladesh should revisit its citizenship law to ensure equal opportunities for both male and female diaspora members to harness the full development potential of dual citizenship.
"To reap the maximum benefits from dual citizenship, the law should ensure that citizenship is passed on through both mother and father," says a study report on "Role of dual and multiple citizenship (DMC) for development."
"Foreign spouses, particularly women, should not renounce their citizenship of their country of origin to acquire the citizenship of the country of their spouses." adds the report, prepared for the World Bank.
According to the existing law, foreign women will get Bangladeshi citizenship if they apply through their spouses, but they must jettison their original citizenship.
"This is certainly a discriminatory provision and the government can look into the possibility of changing it," Tasneem Siddiqui, who co-authored the report, said.
Siddiqui, who teaches political science at Dhaka University, argued that as women were increasingly becoming bread-earners and involved in trade and investment, if amended, the law would help Bangladesh tap the potential of the diapora.
She suggested that the government should act as a facilitator in encouraging the Bangladeshi diaspora to invest in a big way.
Citizenship in Bangladesh is passed on through the father; therefore, children can get citizenship through their father, but not through their mother.
Although no authoritative study was yet to be conducted to quantify the number of dual citizens, estimates put the number of Bangladeshi migrants living abroad, including the diaspora, at 4.0 million.
The study, which is based on the experiences of Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, Ireland, Greece and the Dominican Republic, concludes that the DMC facilitates increased trade, investment and social changes, leading to economic development of the country of origin in qualitative terms.
Facilitating DMC can also become an important vehicle for sharing of cross-border expertise and technology transfers, the report pointed out.
So far, the bulk of diaspora investments in Bangladesh has come into the sectors like real estate, trade, manufacturing, transport, information technology, textile, agro-based small industries, tourism, health services, leather and food processing.
Referring to the case of Nandan Group, the study noted that it was involved in a wide variety of ventures like entertainment, agro-processing and chain supermarket.
It, however, lauded the Bangladesh government's measures to attract diaspora investment, particularly introduction of the Wage Earners' Scheme, Dollar Bond, and Premium Bond.
The country has also decided to offer the Important Non-Resident Bangladeshi (INRB) status to expatriates, who will wire home a certain amount of remittance or invest in the country.
According to official figures, remittances sent by overseas Bangladeshis totalled US$6.0 billion in the just-out fiscal, dwarfing other inflows of foreign exchange, notably foreign aid and foreign direct investment.
Back in 1978, Bangladesh introduced the dual citizenship in a bid to attract the diaspora investment, but the overseas Bangladeshis have begun to invest in the homeland on a large scale since the 1990s.
The country had amended "The Bangladesh Citizenship (Temporary provision) Order 1972, allowing a person of Bangladeshi origin to obtain the dual citizenship if they were also citizens of any countries of Australia, Europe or North America.
Like any citizen of Bangladesh, dual citizens enjoy an array of facilities such as voting rights, purchase of properties, running business, and access to government services, public education and banking.
By now, 89 countries across the world have introduced dual and multiple citizenship, enabling both countries of origin and destination to reap social and economic benefits on their respective sides.