Support Gender Equal Nationality Rights

Gender discrimination in nationality laws results in significant and wide-ranging human rights violations, including: statelessness; obstacles to accessing education, healthcare and social services; links with gender-based violence, human trafficking and child marriage; political disenfranchisement; poverty and social marginalization. In addition to harming individuals and families, discriminatory nationality laws also hurt society as a whole in the 50+ countries that maintain them, by contributing to insecurity and hampering sustainable economic development.

Since its launch, the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights (Global Campaign) has increased awareness of the costs of gender discriminatory nationality and catalyzed action to realize needed reforms at the national level.

With your support, the Global Campaign is taking this momentum forward to the next phase.

Activities in need of support in the coming year include:

National/Regional Workshops & Stakeholder Capacity Building
In many countries ripe for reform there is a lack of resources to support the strategic planning and mobilization of civil society and government allies needed to tip the balance for success. The Global Campaign conducts regional and national workshops with individuals representing government representatives, key civil society organizations, and political, community, and religious leaders. Each workshop includes the development of a time-bound road map for collaborative national and international action to advance equal nationality rights for women and men.

The 3-4 day mission includes:
• Mapping of the key stakeholders, allies and opposition with national civil society partners
• Exchange with government and civil society representatives from a country that recently reformed its law
• Training on the impact of gender discriminatory nationality laws and relevant international human rights law
• Advocacy capacity building sessions, based on successful regional models of nationality law reform
• Work plan development
• Meetings with key stakeholders
• Media sensitization
• Press briefing

Small Advocacy Grants for National-Level Interventions
Small grants are provided to NGOs in order to implement advocacy interventions identified during national workshops. Advocacy interventions include: media engagement; direct outreach to government officials and political leaders; dissemination of informational material and advocacy messages; and other awareness raising activities. These small grants will support targeted interventions to engage government stakeholders and the public, resulting in greater awareness, attention and action.

Middle East-North Africa Regional Conference on Lessons Learned from Successful Nationality Law Reform Campaigns
The Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region has the highest concentration of countries denying women’s right to confer nationality to children. It is also the region with the highest number of reforms advancing women’s nationality rights over the past decade. Despite these achievements, leaders who secured these reforms and other regional stakeholders have not convened to discuss successful paths to reform and the significant positive impact of reforms on individuals, families and society-at-large. The Global Campaign is convening MENA government representatives and civil society in 2017 to facilitate the sharing of good practices and strategies from successful reform efforts in order to mobilize action further reforms for women’s nationality rights in the region. Additional funding support will enable the participation of a greater number of stakeholders from the region.

Target Country Advocacy Brochures: The Law, International Obligations, and SDG Impact
Designed to catalyze action by national decision-makers, country-specific advocacy brochures document: the status of the nationality law; implications for the realization of national Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets; and relevant obligations under international human rights law in target countries.

Regional Advocacy Brochures on the Positive Impact of Recent Reforms Advancing Women’s Nationality Rights
Region-specific advocacy tools documenting the positive impact of reforms advancing gender equal nationality rights in the Middle East-North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Asia Pacific are needed to support ongoing reform effortsin the region. Published in local languages and English, these advocacy brochures will demonstrate the significant benefits of recent reforms in each region through profiles and personal stories of individuals who benefitted from reforms, as well as testimonies by government officials and other stakeholders.

High-level event convening government and civil society leaders
Each year the Global Campaign holds high-level events convening government and civil society leaders from target and champion countries to increase mobilization for gender equal nationality rights at the international, regional and/or national levels. Examples of such convenings include high-level events at the Commission on the Status of Women, United Nations Human Rights Council Sessions, and side events at regional meetings, such as ECOWAS, ASEAN, Arab League summits.

For more information on supporting the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights, please contact Campaign Manager Catherine Harrington at CatherineH@wrcommission.org.