Social Media Campaign Garners Massive Support to Create a Precedent for Improved Rights for Street Children in Nepal
A familiar social issue which has persisted in Nepal is the abandonment of children on the streets. This often comes about when relationships between parents breaks down, leading to a lack of supportive and functional family. Some of these children enter the care-system, while others endure the hardship of life on the streets (often begging and turning to drugs, or finding themselves in exploitative work or the sex industry).
All of these children, having no birth certificate, grow up with no legal citizenship. This causes them to face extreme barriers as they reach adulthood, as they are deprived from basic opportunities such as; applying for jobs, enrolling in training programmes, opening bank accounts, or obtaining a passport. Life prospects for these individuals are often bleak, and the perpetuation of this social welfare issue, brought about by a lack of government procedures in place to obtain citizenship, remains something which urgently requires addressing.
A brother and sister pair at the Hope Centre, who’s stories echo that described above, recently set a strong legal precedent in Nepal when, with the help of social media civil rights activist and investigative journalist Arjun Bhusal and his team, obtained citizenships for both the siblings and their father, after a lack of response from government authorities following concerns from the Disabled Welfare Association regarding the pairs legal rights.
The brother and sister’s father ran away from his village in Barabise, Sindhupalchowk aged 8 to work in a carpet factory in Kathmandu. Following the collapse of his marriage to the pair’s mother and abandoning the children on the streets of Kathmandu, he moved to the far-western region of Nepal (near the Chinese border), where he has lived for the past 15 years.
As the pressures of not having legal rights began to apply, it soon became apparent that the framework for orphans to obtain citizenship is severely lacking in Nepal. With no response from the relevant government authorities, the Disabled Welfare Association Nepal turned to the support of the social media community.
The first hurdle was to track down the siblings’ parents. Through the hard work of journalists and the social media community, the pair’s mother, who had remarried and had a further 2 children (yet who’s second marriage had also collapsed) was located. Subsequently, the father was also identified and it was established that he has had long-term mental health considerations which contributed to the abandonment of the children and that both parents lacked citizenships.
The moment the siblings reunited with their father was an emotional occasion for those involved, but garnered massive support from the social media community.
In order for the siblings to obtain their citizenships, first their father was required to obtain his own. With the help of Arjun Bhusal and his team, thousands of people watched the video documenting the family’s reunion and plight to obtain citizenship. They received overwhelming support from the social media community as well as to community at Barabise, where the necessary procedures were carried out at the police and ward offices and the municipality major gave his full support in preparing the required documents for the pair and their father to obtain their birth certificates and citizenships.
On Thursday 18th September 2025 both the children and their father travelled to Barabise where all parties obtained their citizenship certificates from the District Administration Office.
Upon returning to Kathmandu, Arjun Bhusal along with his team, as well as the reunited children and their father, joined board members of the Disabled Welfare Association to attend a thanksgiving event at the Hope Centre. During the celebrations, House Manager Tilak Shrestha was awarded a certificate of appreciation from the social media community for his good work in this campaign. Upon visiting the Hope Centre, the pair’s father expressed his heartfelt gratitude to everyone who supported him and his children. He still requires a permanent place to live, but the municipality mayor of Barabise has promised to arrange accommodation for him.
