The Supreme Court of Nepal has instructed the government to recognize the same-sex foreign spouse of a Nepali citizen, Human Rights Watch said today.
The court also instructed the government to urgently consider a 2015 court-ordered report that recommended broader recognition of same-sex relationships.
Building on judgments from 2007 and 2017 that recognized the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.
The court ruled that failure to recognize same-sex spouses violates Nepal’s constitution and its international human rights obligations.
“The Supreme Court has again drawn attention to the government’s lagging implementation of court orders to recognize same-sex relationships.”
Also, Said Kyle Knight, senior LGBT rights researcher at Human Rights Watch.
“Nepal has a global reputation as a leader in LGBT rights. And the government needs to live up to it with a tangible policy change.”
Pokhrel and Volz attempted to register their German marriage with Nepali authorities. He denied their request.
JUDGEMENT
They applied again for a non-tourist visa for Volz in August 2022. Submitting the Supreme Court’s judgment in Suman Panta
Ministry of Home Affairs, Department of Immigration, et al. (2017) to demonstrate the court’s previous orders to grant foreign same-sex spouses non-tourist visas. But the authorities again denied the application.
That case, and Pokhrel and Volz’s case, drew significantly from other Supreme Court judgments, including the landmark case of Sunil Babu Pant et al. v. Nepal.
In 2007, in response to a petition from four LGBT activists, including Sunil Babu Pant.
Nepal’s Supreme Court ordered the government to form a committee to study same-sex relationship recognition laws around the world.
The justices wrote: “We hold that it is an inherent right of an adult to have marital relations with another adult with her/his free consent and according to her/his will.
Same sex marriage should be viewed from the viewpoint of interest and rights of the concerned people as well as that of the society, family and all others.”