During the 32nd Session of the Human Rights Council (HRC), 107 countries* co-sponsored a new HRC Resolution, "The Right to a Nationality: Women's Equal Nationality Rights in Law and Practice," which calls on all governments to ensure gender equal nationality rights and urges reform in countries maintaining gender-discriminatory nationality laws in violation of countries' obligations under international law. 

Adopted by the HRC on June 30, 2016, the resolution builds on the 2012 resolution, The Right to a Nationality: Women and Children, includes stronger gender equality language, and calls for women’s equal ability to confer to children and spouses (spousal conferral was not highlighted in the previous resolution). It is hoped that the new resolution will be leveraged by women's rights activists in countries maintaining discriminatory nationality laws to support reform efforts. 

Also during the June Session, the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights organized the HRC side event, "Women’s Equal Nationality Rights in Law and Practice," which was co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Algeria, Australia, Brazil, Finland, France, Germany, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States and, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations Children's Fund, UN Women, and the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion. Held at the Palais des Nations, the event was well-attended by Member States, UN staff and civil society.

U.S. Representative to the Human Rights Council, H.E. Ambassador Keith M. Harper, opened the event, stressing women’s equal nationality rights as fundamental to states' responsibility to uphold non-discrimination on the basis of sex and in the best interest of countries’ development and security. Following Ambassador Harper, Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights Manager Catherine Harrington provided an overview of the status of gender-discriminatory nationality laws worldwide, the human rights violations resulting from these laws, the relevance of international human rights conventions, and recent momentum for reform. Harrington also stressed the connection between these laws and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emphasizing that nine out of the seventeen SDGs are negatively impacted by gender discrimination in nationality laws. The Permanent Representative of Algeria, H.E. Ambassador Boudjemâa Delmi shared Algeria’s path to reform and the many benefits to individuals, families and society-at-large. Madagascar’s Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Mr. Solofo Andrianjatovo Razafitrimo, then discussed his country’s ongoing reform efforts, including a bill presently being drafted in order to ensure Malagasy women’s equal right to confer nationality to children.

Following the panel there was an active discussion with the audience, with a number of Member States expressing their support for achieving gender equal nationality rights. Of particular note, Sierra Leone’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Her Excellency Ms. Yvette Stevens, affirmed her country’s commitment to reform its law to ensure women’s equal nationality rights.

*Original sponsors and co-sponsors:
(Original sponsors in bold)
Algeria, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, El Salvador, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa (on behalf of the States Members of the Group of African States), Spain, Sweden, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Uruguay, Ukraine, United States of America
Note: Individual duplicates in original co-sponsors (Angola and Kenya) have been removed above in view of the African Group co-sponsorship that already includes these States. Main sponsors (core group members) that are members of the African Group – Algeria and Botswana – are nevertheless kept.

Group of African States:
Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Additional HRC Member and Observer Co-sponsors:
Member: Morocco
Observers: Argentina, Austria, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Greece, Guatemala, Japan, Lithuania, Marshall Islands, Sri Lanka

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"Few international questions present such conflicting and perplexing aspects as that of the nationality of women. It is a modern question... Now [women] have been forced into a rude awareness of the completely chaotic conditions of existing nationality laws." - Muna Lee, 1929

By Deirdre Brennan*

This day, ninety years ago, feminist activists from around the world descended on the Hague to protest a gathering of the League of Nations. While this might sound like the actions of suffragettes of that period, the discriminatory laws these women were in fact protesting were nationality laws. In 1930, nationality laws in all but five countries in the world made distinctions based on sex. A hidden history of statelessness, this article reveals some of the lively and creative ways women of the early twentieth century came together to demand women’s full nationality rights. Looking back to move forward, their activism can provide inspiration for campaigns in the remaining fifty countries continuing to uphold Gender Discriminatory Nationality Laws (GDNL) in 2020.

Deepti Gurung, her two formally stateless daughters Nikita and Neha, and her formerly stateless husband Diwakar Chettri continue the fight for gender equal citizenship laws in Nepal. Credit: Deirdre Brennan 

In contrast to today’s GDNL campaigns – which struggle to garner the global attention they deserve – the importance of women’s nationality rights was so highly regarded that, at the start of the twentieth century, the International Alliance of Women was renamed the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship. By 1928, when an announcement came that the League of Nations would hold a Conference on the Codification of International Law in the Hague, the women’s alliance quickly sprang into action. A committee was formed and directed by three pioneering feminist lawyers, Chrystal Macmillan from Scotland, Maria Vérone from France and Betsy Bakker-Nort from the Netherlands – an impressive international collaboration. Meanwhile, in the United States, Alice Paul, a leading feminist figure was collating the nationality laws of eighty-four countries. The document, which took two years to put together, contained laws in their original text and translations that had been sent to Paul from feminists around the world (languages included Japanese, Greek, Siamese, Bulgarian, Russian). Again, demonstrating the commitment of women worldwide toward the united goal of women’s equal citizenship rights.

The Conference was fast approaching and yet many feminist scholars and activists were failing to secure membership in their country’s delegation to the Hague. In the U.S. for example, legal adviser Manley O. Hudson (now infamous for writing the definition of a stateless person) was adamant that he did not want women to be part of the official U.S. delegation. Difficult as it might be to imagine the financial implications and logistical barriers, feminist organisations nevertheless managed to send ‘unofficial’ delegates to the Hague. By opening night of the Conference, 13 March 1930, the formal ceremonies commenced to which the feminist were not invited. Instead, they staged a spectacle of their own just two blocks away, speeches and a parade based on the great suffrage processions of the past. A remarkable thirty-five countries were represented amongst the group of women. Each woman carried her respective country’s flag and dressed in colours to symbolise her country’s nationality laws. The closer to full equal nationality rights between men and women, the more cheerful the colours worn by representatives. White meant complete equality, while pink and blue etc. signified some change in the law toward equality. Black symbolised complete discrimination in its nationality laws. A newspaper thus reported that “the Dutch dress was pitch black” and the tragic irony of the location of these protests was not lost on the Dutch activist. Betsy Bakker-Nort observed that the ‘legal situation of women [in the Netherlands] is still based on the obsolete principle of subjection of women to men’. A sentiment, unfortunately, still echoed today.

Momentum by the protesters didn’t wane throughout the month-long Conference. They presented their twenty-five-year commitment to nationality-law reform but were refused an opportunity to speak before the full assembly. Two weeks into the Conference, and with the arrival of the ‘militant’ American feminists, the actions of the women as ‘unofficial delegates’ eventually antagonized the presiding officer of the Conference. The presiding officer Theodorus Heemskerk, was the former prime minister of the Netherlands and long-time enemy of the of the Dutch woman suffrage movement. Heemskerk claimed that the group of women were harassing the delegates. He gave an order to the Dutch police to eject them from the grounds of the Peace Palace and had them barred. Not to be defeated, the women simply regrouped and resumed their protests outside the palace gates. This was all much to the amusement of news reporters who otherwise considered the Conference a rather dull international event. Today, this event brings to question, how disappointed would the 1930s campaigners, with their twenty-five-year commitment to law reform, be to witness the persistence of GDNL almost a century later?

In spite of the colourful and persistent campaigning of feminists at the Hague, the outcome of the Conference was unsatisfactory. The only agreed convention at the Conference was the Convention on Certain Questions Relating to the Conflict of Nationality Laws. The Convention addressed women’s nationality rights only in so far as they wouldn’t become stateless or dual nationals. The Convention’s solution to statelessness still retained the idea that married women’s nationality was conditional, which campaigners understood as inferior. The fact that campaigners in the 1930s did not give up their fight, simply when safeguards against statelessness were drawn up, is a point of inspiration for today’s GDNL campaigns. They stuck to their feminist principles of equality and their continued campaigning, in the aftermath of the Hague Conference, either frustrated or bemused governments. In 1931, activists launched an intensive telegram campaign to the League of Nations. Women all over the world sent telegrams to Council members and in less than forty-eight hours 210 telegrams were received in Geneva. Although international action on the issue was consistently proving impossible, one of the major successes of that period came at a regional level. Thanks to years of advocacy and research by the Inter-American Commission of Women, the world’s first international convention relating to women’s nationality rights was adopted at the Pan American Union Conference in 1933. Article 1, of the Convention on the Nationality of Women, specified that signatories agreed that ‘there shall be no distinction based on sex as regards nationality, in their legislation or in their practice’. In fact, it was the first international convention adopted concerning women’s rights full stop.

It’s difficult to pinpoint an exact ending to the 1930s campaigns, but the outbreak of the Second World War certainly played a significant role. While it’s disappointing that the creativity, urgency and collaborative nature of the 1930s campaigns wasn’t maintained for countries following colonial independence, the value of their work is of no less importance. In fact, the unearthing of these century old campaigns only serve as a significant symbol that the eradication of GDNL is now well overdue. It’s also impossible not draw inspiration from the 1930s activists who overcame countless opposition and financial, logistical and linguistic barriers to demand women’s equal nationality rights at the global stage. It’s now up to us now, to honour the work of feminists before us, and to ensure the rights of all women going forward.

*Deidre Brennan is a PhD candidate at the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, University of Melbourne. Deirdre’s PhD is examining the role of grass-roots activism in ending statelessness, specifically law reform of gender discriminatory nationality laws in Nepal.

This blog is derived from the article Feminist Foresight in Statelessness: Activism against Gender Discriminatory Nationality Laws from 1920 to 2020. The article will be published in the forthcoming issue of the Statelessness and Citizenship Review, with all references and citations found within.

In advance of the UN Open Debate on Women, Peace, and Security (October 25), the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights joined 253 NGOs from 55 countries in signing the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace, and Security's Open Letter, which calls on Member States to provide an outline of concrete steps taken to reform gender discriminatory nationality laws, where relevant, in addition to other key actions needed to advance the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda.

The Security Council has noted the link between gender discriminatory nationality laws and the exacerbated vulnerability of women fleeing conflict on a number of occasions, including in UN Security Council Resolution 2122 (2013) and subsequent Open Debates on WPS and the Protection of Civilians in Conflict. 

When families from countries with gender-discriminatory nationality laws are forced to flee conflict areas, the portion of the population harmed by these laws can increase exponentially. In contexts of displacement, where fathers are often separated from their families, discriminatory nationality laws increase the risk that children born to refugee women will be rendered stateless. Today, with the greatest displacement since World War II, forced displacement and migration from countries with gender-discriminatory nationality laws threatens to create a new generation of stateless children. In addition to the increased number of families harmed by gender-discriminatory nationality laws in contexts of displacement, these laws cause already vulnerable populations of refugees, internally displaced persons, and persons living in conflict contexts to be even more insecure.  

Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights Statement, May 2, 2019 (Available in Arabic and French)

From April 24-25, 2019 civil society leaders from Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia convened in Istanbul, Turkey for the first global meeting of the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights*, a coalition dedicated to achieving a world where every country’s nationality law treats citizens as equals regardless of their gender. In recognition of the inalienable right of every person to equality and equal treatment before the law, and the extent to which nationality rights impact the enjoyment of a wide-range of civil, political, economic and social rights, we strongly call for urgent action to end gender discrimination in nationality laws.

Over the past century, as governments across the world took steps to end discrimination against women, most countries enacted reforms to uphold the right of citizens, both women and men, to pass their nationality to their children and spouses on an equal basis. However, today:

• Twenty-five countries deny women the right to pass their nationality to their own children on an equal basis with men.**
• Approximately fifty countries retain gender-discriminatory provisions in their nationality laws***, such as provisions denying women the right to pass nationality to a foreign spouse under the same terms as men, and linking women’s ability to acquire, change, or retain their own citizenship to their marital status.

There is no justification for the maintenance of nationality laws that deny women and men equal rights.

These laws violate the right to equality, equality before the law, and non-discrimination on the basis of sex that are enshrined in international law and most countries’ constitutions. A number of international conventions, ratified by most countries worldwide, include specific provisions which enshrine gender-equal nationality rights, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In addition to these commitments, countries around the world have committed to ending gender discrimination (and therefore gender discrimination in nationality laws) in numerous regional declarations, such as the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, the Arab Declaration on Belonging and Identity, the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration, the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man, and others.

The persistence of gender discrimination in nationality laws results in wide-ranging human rights violations and the unnecessary suffering of affected women, men, and children, including denied access to education, healthcare, employment, freedom of movement, permanent residence in the state territory, and family unity, and are a root cause of statelessness. At their core, these laws undermine women’s equality in society and the family.

The Sustainable Development Goals – developed and universally endorsed by all nations in 2015 – cannot be realized in the absence of gender-equal nationality laws.

As stated in the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA), “equality between women and men are prerequisites for achieving political, social, economic, cultural and environmental security among all peoples.” As we approach the 25-year anniversary of the BPfA, we emphasize that gender-equal nationality laws are indispensable to achieving the long-overdue BPfA government commitments.

While virtually all governments have stated their commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment, such statements are grossly contradicted by a lack of action to reform discriminatory nationality laws to uphold gender equality. Temporary and partial measures are not enough, and pending reforms, governments must ensure that the children and spouses of women citizens have access to the same social services and residency rights as the families of male citizens.

We call on all governments in countries with gender-discriminatory nationality laws to enact reforms without delay to uphold equal nationality rights for equal citizens, women and men. We further encourage governments to work with civil society experts to achieve and successfully implement reforms to end gender discrimination in nationality laws. Now is the time for action.

Approximately 75% of countries worldwide uphold gender equality in their nationality laws. It is time for 100%.

*The Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights includes Steering Committee Members Equality Now, Equal Rights Trust, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, UNHCR, Women’s Learning Partnership, and Women’s Refugee Commission and coalition members based in Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia.

** Twenty-five countries deny women the right to pass their nationality to their own children on an equal basis with men: The Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Brunei, Burundi, eSwatini, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kiribati, Kuwait, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Nepal, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Togo, United Arab Emirates

***Countries that retain gender-discriminatory provisions in their nationality laws: Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Brunei, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo (Republic of), Egypt, eSwatini, Guatemala, Guinea, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kiribati, Kuwait, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mauritius, Monaco, Morocco, Nauru, Nepal, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent & Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, United Arab Emirates, USA, Yemen

Photo source: https://www.bahamas.gov.bsThe Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights is deeply disappointed by the failure of the public referendum in The Bahamas on June 7, which sought to end discrimination on the basis of sex and enshrine the principle of equality between women and men in the Bahamian Constitution.

Three of the four bills included in the referendum sought to ensure that Bahamian women and men are treated equally in their ability to confer nationality to children and spouses. Due to the referendum’s failure, The Bahamas remains one of only twenty-seven countries worldwide – one of two in the Western Hemisphere – that denies mothers the right to confer nationality to their children on an equal basis with men. The Bahamas will also now continue to deny unmarried fathers the ability to confer nationality to their children. Because of this, today children born abroad to Bahamian women or unmarried Bahamian men continue to be at risk of being stateless – whereby no country considers them citizens – while families and spouses may be torn apart because Bahamian women are denied the ability to confer nationality to spouses, a right reserved only for Bahamian men.

The injustices embedded in the current Constitution are clear examples of gender-based discrimination. The perpetuation of this discrimination means that The Bahamas – like too many countries across the globe – remains in violation of its commitments under international law to ensure equality between women and men.

We applaud the efforts by many Bahamians, including Citizens for Constitutional Equality and government leaders, to address this discrimination. The failure of the referendum only serves to highlight the significant attention and hard work required in The Bahamas and worldwide to achieve gender equality.

The Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights and our coalition members around the world, including in The Bahamas, remain dedicated to working for legal reforms to end gender discrimination in nationality laws. We call on the international community – government, organizations, and individuals – to join us in advocating for equal nationality rights for equal citizens, women and men.

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Photo source: https://www.bahamas.gov.bsThe Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights is deeply disappointed by the failure of the public referendum in The Bahamas on June 7, which sought to end discrimination on the basis of sex and enshrine the principle of equality between women and men in the Bahamian Constitution.

Three of the four bills included in the referendum sought to ensure that Bahamian women and men are treated equally in their ability to confer nationality to children and spouses. Due to the referendum’s failure, The Bahamas remains one of only twenty-seven countries worldwide – one of two in the Western Hemisphere – that denies mothers the right to confer nationality to their children on an equal basis with men. The Bahamas will also now continue to deny unmarried fathers the ability to confer nationality to their children. Because of this, today children born abroad to Bahamian women or unmarried Bahamian men continue to be at risk of being stateless – whereby no country considers them citizens – while families and spouses may be torn apart because Bahamian women are denied the ability to confer nationality to spouses, a right reserved only for Bahamian men.

The injustices embedded in the current Constitution are clear examples of gender-based discrimination. The perpetuation of this discrimination means that The Bahamas – like too many countries across the globe – remains in violation of its commitments under international law to ensure equality between women and men.

We applaud the efforts by many Bahamians, including Citizens for Constitutional Equality and government leaders, to address this discrimination. The failure of the referendum only serves to highlight the significant attention and hard work required in The Bahamas and worldwide to achieve gender equality.

The Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights and our coalition members around the world, including in The Bahamas, remain dedicated to working for legal reforms to end gender discrimination in nationality laws. We call on the international community – government, organizations, and individuals – to join us in advocating for equal nationality rights for equal citizens, women and men.

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Equality Bahamas and the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights* welcome the decision by the Supreme Court of The Bahamasto uphold the right of Bahamian men to confer nationality on their children, regardless of marital status.** This is an important step towards upholding equal nationality rights for Bahamians without discrimination on the basis of gender or marital status. Yet, we are troubled by the announcement by the Attorney General of The Bahamas that the government plans to appeal this decision. We also remain deeply concerned by the persistence of gender-discriminatory nationality provisions in the Constitution of The Bahamas, which deprive Bahamian women of equal nationality rights.

In ruling that the Constitution does in fact uphold the right of Bahamian men to confer nationality on children, regardless of marital status, the Court’s decision, if upheld, could benefit thousands of children of Bahamian men born outside of legal marriage. Prior to the ruling, some affected fathers would “adopt” their own children in order for them to become naturalized Bahamian citizens prior to reaching majority. If not naturalized before, affected children could apply for naturalization after their eighteenth birthday. If the ruling stands, The Bahamas would no longer be one of three countries that deny male citizens the right to confer nationality on children born outside legal marriage.

Regardless of the appeal’s outcome, The Bahamas remains one of 25 countries globally whose nationality law denies women the right to confer nationality on their children on an equal basis with men. Married Bahamian women lack the right to pass nationality to children born abroad, a right reserved for Bahamian men. The Bahamas is also one of approximately fifty countries that denies women the same right as men to confer nationality on a non-citizen spouse.

A 2016 public referendum put the question of gender-equal nationality rights and a proposed new article banning sex-based discrimination to the citizens of The Bahamas. The referendum failed by a wide margin, underscoring the need for concerted public awareness raising on the harm caused by gender discrimination in law, which is also a driver of gender-based violence.

"We are pleased with this interpretation of the constitution as inclusive and rights-giving rather than restrictive and punitive. It is unfortunate that the Attorney General is positioning himself as a defender of the constitution and his narrow view of it, rather than a defender of the people for whom the constitution was written. We continue in our work toward constitutional reform and the expansion of women's rights."
- Alicia Wallace, Director of Equality Bahamas, Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights Coalition Member

“The Supreme Court decision is an important step towards achieving equal nationality rights for Bahamian women and men. The persistence of gender discrimination in the nationality law of The Bahamas undermines women and men’s equal citizenship and equality in the family. We urge the government of The Bahamas to build on this recent momentum and take concrete action to advance equal nationality rights for all citizens, women and men."
– Catherine Harrington, Manager of the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights

*The Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights consists of a coalition of national and international organizations, including Steering Committee members Equal Rights Trust, Equality Now, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, Women’s Learning Partnership, and Women’s Refugee Commission.

** The Court’s recent decision focused on the meaning of “parents” in the Constitution and the corresponding interpretation of two concerned articles:

Article 6: “Every person born in the Bahamas after 9th July 1973 shall become a citizen of the Bahamas at the date of his birth if at that date either of his parents is a citizen of the Bahamas.”

Article 14 (1): “Any reference in this chapter to the father of a person shall, in relation to any person born out of wedlock other than a person legitimated before 10th July 1973, be construed as a reference to the mother of that person.”

The new Bahamas-based Citizens for Constitutional Equality (CCE) is now a coalition member of the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights, an international initiative that advocates for the removal of provisions that discriminate on the basis of sex from all nationality laws. CCE, which held its official launch at a March 26 public event at Anglican Holy Church Hall in Nassau, seeks to mobilize Bahamians to pass the pending constitutional referendum that would ban discrimination based on sex and guarantee equal nationality rights for men and women.

The Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights and the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion(ISI) submittted supplemental information for the consideration of the Committee on the Rights of the Child regarding Barbados’ compliance towards every child’s right to acquire a nationality under Article 7 CRC. The submission focused on the denial of the child’s right to acquire a nationality in violation of Articles 2, 7 and 8 of the CRC, as a result of gender discrimination in the nationality law of Barbados. Click here to view the submission.

Natural disasters exacerbate existing legal and social problems. In Nepal, one needless law means that, of the estimated 126,000 earthquake-affected women who are currently pregnant, thousands may give birth to children who will not legally be Nepali citizens. That’s because Nepali law requires proof of the father’s citizenship. For the many unborn or newborn Nepalis whose fathers have been killed – or who have even just lost their personal documents – proof of paternity and of the father’s citizenship will be incredibly difficult.

After nearly eight years of deliberation by two consecutive Constituent Assemblies, Nepal’s draft Constitution, if passed, will result in a significant increase in stateless children, while allowing gender discrimination by state authorities to persist.

Enacted in the wake of the country’s decade-long civil war, the country’s current provisional constitution states that anyone “whose father or mother is a citizen of Nepal at the birth of such person” is eligible to apply for Nepali citizenship. However, Article 8(7) of the Interim Constitution states that the children of Nepali women and foreign men can only access citizenship through naturalization, not by right, through descent. There is no similar restriction on children of Nepali men. One of the consequences of Article 8(7), is that state authorities often refuse to accept citizenship applications submitted only by mothers, as they require proof of the father’s identity to establish that he is not a foreigner.

As in the 26 other countries where such discriminatory nationality laws persist, this means children denied their mother’s citizenship have limited access to public education, health care, and eventually jobs and state-recognized marriages. They are often unable to open a bank account and cannot secure a passport. Limited access to such essential human services often seriously impacts stateless persons’ long-term health and economic security. Much worse, stateless children face higher instances of child labor, trafficking and other forms of exploitation. [1]

Alarmingly, a proposed shift from the conjunction “or” to “and” in the new Constitution, if passed, promises to dramatically increase the number of children faced with these hardships and human rights violations.

Reintroduced in the January 22 meeting of the Constituent Assembly, the proposed change would require proof of both the mother and father’s Nepali citizenship in order for a child to be considered Nepali by descent.

Ironically, at the start of this latest round of Constitutional negotiations, there were high hopes that the new constitution would grant women the right to confer nationality to their children, both advancing gender equality and helping to eradicate statelessness in the country. But after an initial commitment by the major political parties, several withdrew their support and returned to advocating for citizenship only for children of Nepali fathers and mothers.

While the proposed revision threatens all single parents, it is expected that single women and their children would be particularly disadvantaged, due to discriminatory practices by local authorities. Moreover, the new Constitution is expected to continue to deny women the right to confer nationality to foreign spouses – a fact that risks breaking up families, as foreign fathers without proper documentation may be forced to work abroad.

Despite these setbacks, champions of Nepali women’s right to confer nationality to children, including the Forum for Women, Law and Development, the Nepal Civil Society Network of Citizenship Rights and the Citizenship in the Name of the Mother coalition, continue to fight for reforms in the new Constitution.

تقرير

حملة " جنسيتي حق لي ولأسرتي " و تحالف "المساواة دون تحفظ " و منظمة " التضامن النسائي للتعلم من أجل الحقوق والتنمية والسلام " _ لبنان _

منذ خضوع لبنان للاستعرض الدوري الشامل ، في الدورة السادسة عشر لمجلس حقوق الإنسان في مقر الأمم المتحدة في جنيف اذار 2011 ، وحتى يومنا هذا فلم يحرز اي تقدم على مستوى المساواة في قانون الجنسية ، علماً انه رفض التوصية المتعلقة " بتعديل القانون المتعلق بالجنسية بحيث تتمكن جميع اللبنانيات المتزوجات من أجانب من منح جنسياتهن لأطفالهن وأزواجهن " . على الرغم من المعاناة التي تتعرض لها النساء اللبنانيات واسرهن بشكل يومي ، من عوائق في تسوية الاقامة ، وحرمان من الاستشفاء ، والتعليم والعمل والضمان الصحي والاجتماعي وغيرها من الحقوق الاساسية . وحيث أن لبنان لا يزال يتردد في الإقدام على أي خطوة من شأنها رفع الظلم عن المرأة اللبنانية التي لا زالت محرومة من حقها في منح جنسيتها لزوجها وأولادها أسوة بالمواطن الرجل . الا ان هناك بعض ما حصل :  بتاريخ 21 آذار 2012 ، استجابة لضغط الشارع وضعت لأول مرّة هذه القضية على جدول أعمال مجلس الوزراء في ، تشكلت لجنة وزارية لدراسة تعديل قانون الجنسية. وبمرور اكثر من سنة على تشكيلها جاءت توصيتها " بعدم منح المرأة حقها بإعطاء جنسيتها لأسرتها " . مستندة بقرارها على جملة من المغالطات والحجج غير المقنعة ضاربة بعرض الحائط بالدستور وبالمعاهدات الدولية :

في الشكل: 1- ذكرت كلمة "إجماع" بينما وزير الشؤون الاجتماعية عضو في اللجنة صرح في الإعلام انه لم يدعى للاجتماع ولم يوقع ولا علم له بالموضوع بتاتا. 2- جاء التقرير بعد مرور 11 يوما من لقاء اللجنة الوزارية مع حملة " جنسيتي حق لي ولأسرتي " و الجمعيات بناء على طلبها ولم يكن لديهم اللياقة الكافية لإبلاغنا بمقرراتهم.

في المضمون: ثمة الكثير من المغالطات، التحريفات والمواقف غير مسندة ابرزها: 1- المراجعة مؤلفة من 20 نقطة غير محكمة من حيث التسلسل المنطقي (9: شو خص الوزارة؟) وبعضها غيرمفهوم سبب الرجوع اليها (15: رابطة الدم او الارض) او متناقضة مع السياق (12: اسبقية المعاهدات الدولية) 2- الإحصاءات التي نشرت لا تظهر بتاتا الخلل الديموغرافي الطائفي الناتج عن تبني تعديل قانون الجنسية وبأحسن الحالات تظهر وجود نسبة 6% فقط من النساء اللبنانيات المتزوجات من فلسطينيين وهذا يؤكد أن فزاعة التوطين لإقرار الحق ضعيفة وواهية. 3- تظهر الفقرة 19 الخاصة باللقاء مع الهيئات النسائية التحريف، فاللقاء مع اللجنة الوزارية ركز على الحقوق بغض النظر عن أية اعتبارات أخرى، كما تمنح انطباعا بأن محور اهتمام الحملة هو الحقوق المدنية فقط بينما ما يهم الحملة هو موضوع المساواة بغض النظر عن أية اعتبارات طائفية، ناهيك عن ضرورة التركيز على مبدأ المساواة بين اللبنانيات .

في الاساسيات: ضربت المراجعة بعرض الحائط جملة اساسيات منها: 1- الدستور على حساب القوانين 2- المعاهدات الدولية في بموضوع الجنسية بحجة الدستور والقوانين اللبنانية. 3- ضرب الدستور والقوانين للاعتبارات المرتبطة بالتجاذبات السياسية، الطائفية والانتخابية. 4- التضحية بالحقوق الفردية وحقوق المواطن لحساب حقوق الطوائف.

في توصيات اللجنة: 1. ربط رفض المساواة واعطاء النساء حقوقهن طالما بقي النظام الطائفي. 2. أما بالنسبة للمقترحات الخاصة بالتسهيلات والتقديمات الاجتماعية فهي غير ذي شأن وعدد منها تم انتزاعها اصلا، اما الاجتماعية منها فهي حق للمواطن والموطنة لا منة فيها على الرغم من انها اصلا غير قابلة للتحقيق في ضوء التوجهات الاقتصادية والاجتماعية الحكومية الحالية والظروف العامة المحيطة بها.

موقف حملة جنسيتي حق لي ولاسرتي حول توصية اللجنة الوزارية : 1. رفض الأمر الواقع الذي يحاولون فرضه علينا. 2. رفض مبدأ أن الحقوق والمواطنة والمساواة خاضعة لأهواء السياسيين، التوازنات السياسية الطائفية، وحقوق الطوائف. 3. التقديمات والتسهيلات ليست بديل عن اقرار الحق وليست في صلب الموضوع الحقوقي.

بتاريخ ايلول 2013 ، اصدر رئيس الجمهورية السابق ميشال سليمان ، مرسوم تجنيس رقم 10214 ، قضى بتجنيس 112 شخصاً عربياً واجنبياً، بصورة سرية كشفت عنه احدى الوسائل الاعلامية ، دون ان ينشر في الجريدة الرسمية . وسجلت الحملة النقاط التالية : • لم يشكل صدور هذا المرسوم مفاجأة، في ضوء الممارسات الاعتباطية وغير الشفافة التي دأب عليها مسؤولونا، وللاسف، اعتاد عليها المواطن والمواطنة.

• من المعيب ان تقدم الدولة، ممثلة بركنيها الاساسيين، على الموافقة على منح الجنسية اللبنانية للاجانب، ولسخرية القدر، منحها للنساء والرجال واسرهن في آن واحد، فيما ترفض الدولة، وتحت حجج واهية، اعطاء النساء اللبنانيات الحق في منح الجنسية لاسرهن. • ان المرسوم المذكور، يكشف بشكل فاضح عن استخفاف المسؤولين بالنساء اللبنانيات وحقوقهن وعن زيف الادعاءات بالحرص على دولة المواطنة، الحقوق والقانون. ومن البديهي اذا ان لا تكون المساواة في المواطنة الكاملة والعدالة الاجتماعية من اولويات المسؤولين. • ما يدعو للاستغراب، اقدام المسؤولين على مثل هكذا خطوة، فيما البلد ومواطنيه ومواطناته في مهب الريح، بينما الطبقة السياسية الحالية تجلس عاجزة عن توفير الحد الادنى من الامان والظروف المعيشية اللائقة لابناء وبنات هذا الوطن، ولا حتى تشكيل حكومة تأخذ على عاتقها مسؤوليات معالجة المسائل الملحة التي تتفاقم يومياً بسبب الظروف الاقليمية المحيطة بلبنان.

بتاريخ أيار /مايو 2014 ، اصدر رئيس الجمهورية مرة ثانية مرسوم ، قضى بتجنيس حوالي 700 شخصاً عربيا" وأجنبيا"، وايضا تم تسريبه ونشره في الصحف .

وتأكيداً لما سبق ؛ فانه في عهد رئيس الجمهورية السابق ميشال سليمان، تم عبر مرسومين آخرهما في الاسبوع الاخير من ولايته ، تجنيس أكثر من الف شخص من جنسيات مختلفة ، والذي جاءا وفقاً لاعتبارات طائفية بحتة ومصلحية ضيقة مسقطا كل الحجج التي يرفعها المسؤولين لتأوول دون تعديل القانون .

وعليه ترفق حملة " جنسيتي حق لي ولأسرتي " والتحالف الاقليمي " مساواة دون تحفظ " و منظمة " التضامن النسائي للتعلم من اجل الحقوق والتنمية والسلام " أدناه مقترح مشروع تعديل قانون الجنسية والاسباب الموجبة لذلك

Nationality laws in 27 countries worldwide prevent mothers from passing their nationality to their children on an equal basis with fathers. Over 60 countries deny women equal rights with men regarding the ability to acquire, change and retain their nationality, and to confer nationality to non-national spouses.

At first glance, laws governing nationality rights might seem irrelevant to securing the rights and security of girls across the globe. But, in reality, when countries deny women and men equal nationality rights, it can result in serious violations of girls’ most basic human rights.

Nationality laws dictate one’s ability to acquire, change, retain and confer nationality. Today, 25 countries deny women equal rights to pass their nationality to their own children. Roughly 50 countries maintain some form of gender discrimination in their nationality law, including denying women the right to pass nationality to foreign spouses.

When women are denied equal rights to confer nationality to their children, children with foreign fathers are at risk of being left stateless – a status whereby no state recognizes the child as a citizen. Children may be unable to access their father’s nationality for a variety of reasons. In Nepal, a country where roughly one in four persons lack entity documents, if the mother cannot prove the father’s Nepali nationality, the child is denied citizenship by descent. Similarly, Syrian women who give birth inside the country do not have the right to pass citizenship to children unless the father is stateless or does not legally recognize the child. Syrian women who give birth outside the country do not have the right to pass citizenship to their children under any circumstance.

With countless Syrian refugee women separated from their husbands and giving birth abroad, a new generation of stateless children born to displaced Syrian women emerges. Unsurprisingly, the majority of these discriminatory laws discriminate against women, though a small number of countries deny unmarried fathers equal rights to confer to children due to outdated notions of gender and parenthood.

While discriminatory nationality laws can result in significant hardships for all members of a family – and ultimately hurt society as a whole – the impact on girls is especially damaging because of compounding discrimination faced by girls, their resulting lack of voice and overall inattention to girls’ needs.

• Children without nationality often lack access to education, are denied entrance to university and are prevented from acquiring professional licenses upon adulthood. If they are allowed to attend school, they may be forced to pay higher fees. Because of persisting gender stereotypes, families with limited resources often prioritize boys’ education over girls’.
• Children without nationality are often denied access to healthcare systems and social services. This means that adolescent girls who lack citizenship are denied access to essential sexual and reproductive healthcare.
• Gender discrimination in nationality laws is linked with child marriage. Due to the lack of opportunity and insecurity experienced by stateless girls, some families view early marriage as a route to greater security for their daughters, who can access citizenship through their husbands.
• Stateless girls are at a higher risk of being trafficked.
• Already marginalized girls without citizenship know that as adults they will lack a political voice and be banned from running for office.

At a time when the international community is increasingly recognizing the vital role girls play in achieving peaceful, prosperous societies, gender discrimination in nationality laws prevents girls across the globe from realizing their dreams, securing their rights and fully contributing to their society and sustainable development. 

Gender equal nationality laws are critical to realizing a world where girls’ rights and security are protected. The good news is, with all of the complicated challenges facing the world today, ending gender discrimination in nationality laws is relatively simple with the political will.

In the past decade, over a dozen countries removed gender discrimination from their nationality laws. In some instances the addition of just two words to the law, “man or woman,”* can fix this unnecessary problem. The Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights is part of a growing movement of organizations – including multiple members of the Coalition for Adolescent Girls – activists and political leaders working to ensure that nationality rights are based on citizenship, not gender. We invite you to join us in this important effort. Gender discrimination, like statelessness, has no place in the 21st century. Girls deserve a future where neither exists.

*Countries have amended their laws in the following manner to eliminate gender discrimination in the law: “The child of a [nationality] man or woman is a citizen; the spouse of a [nationality] man or woman may acquire citizenship.”

The Permanent Missions of Algeria, Australia, France, Germany, The Netherlands,
New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, and the United States and
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations Children's Fund,
UN Women, the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights
and the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion

have the pleasure to invite you to

Women’s Equal Nationality Rights in Law and Practice

Wednesday, June 15, 12:00-13:30
Palais de Nations, Room IX
Geneva

Panelists:

His Excellency Mr. Boudjemâa Delmi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Algeria to the United Nations in Geneva
Chargé d’Affaires a.i. Mr. Solofo Andrianjatovo Razafitrimo, Representative, Permanent Mission of Madagascar to the United Nations in Geneva
Ms. Catherine Harrington, Campaign Manager, Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights

A discussion with the audience will follow panelists’ comments.

Light lunch will be provided.

All Human Rights Council 32 Attendees Are Welcome
UN badges required for entry.

Those without UN badges must RSVP to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for entry

Over50 countries deny women equal rights with menin their ability 

toacquire, change, retain or confer their nationality, resulting in significant
human rights violations and suffering for individuals and families. However, over the
past decade over a dozen states have enacted reforms to achievegender equal nationality laws,
while many others have committed to reforms. At the 32^nd Session of the Human Rights Council,
a new resolution on women’s equal nationality rights in law and practice will be proposed. During this
Human Rights Council side event, panelists will discuss thecosts of gender-discriminatory
nationality laws, lessons learned fromreform efforts, and thepath to
achieving equal nationality rightsfor women and men.

Geneva, 13 June 2023 — Leaders from governments, civil society and United Nations agencies convened in Geneva today at a Global Summit on Gender Equality in Nationality Laws, calling for expedited action to end gender-based discrimination in nationality laws that deny people the equal right to acquire and confer nationality on their children and spouses.

Convened by the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, UNICEF, and UN Women, the Global Summit heard from Eswatini, Iraq and Kiribati states, which reaffirmed their commitment to achieve gender equality in their nationality laws.

While in many contexts across the world, women were historically denied the right to confer nationality to their children on an equal basis with men, multiple countries have reformed their nationality laws over the past few decades. Despite this progress, twenty-four countries still retain nationality laws that deny women the right to pass their citizenship to their children while almost fifty countries prevent them from conferring nationality on their spouse on an equal basis with men.

At their core, gender-discriminatory nationality laws undermine women’s status as equal citizens and their equality in the family, and are also a root cause of statelessness. At today’s Global Summit, leading affected activists and UN agencies also drew attention to resulting wide-ranging human rights violations caused by this discrimination, harming affected women, their families, and societies as a whole.

“When a state allows gender discrimination in its nationality laws, it is implicitly endorsing the notion of women as inferior and possessing second-class citizenship. Laws that discriminate and deny women equal rights with men betray their trust in society and signal that gender discrimination is acceptable, normal, and expected,” said Adriana Quiñones, UN Women’s Head of Human Rights and Development in Geneva.

Habiba Al-Hinai, Executive Director for the Omani Association for Human rights echoed this, saying: “Women are penalized for choosing to marry non-citizens, which infringes on their right to freely choose a spouse. We are calling for equality, for women to have the same nationality rights as men, nothing more, nothing less. We are not asking for charity. We are calling for our equal rights.”

Gaithiri Siva, member of the Family Frontiers Impacted Mothers Network from Malaysia, said: “Gender discriminatory citizenship laws undermine the autonomy of women and our ability to make decisions for ourselves and the wellbeing of our children. We welcome the move by the Malaysian government to table the amendments in September that will end our struggles.”

The benefits of gender equality in nationality laws extend beyond affected individuals and their families, as gender equality in nationality laws is crucial to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, to build inclusive societies, and resolve statelessness.

“There is an increasing awareness amongst policymakers where gender discrimination in nationality laws persists that reform is needed and that gender equality in nationality laws should be embraced – that it is the right thing to do, and it is the smart thing to do,” said Catherine Harrington, Campaign Manager for the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights.

Citizens’ equal right to acquire, change, retain and confer nationality is enshrined in international law and several core human rights conventions ratified by most states, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The link between children’s rights and wellbeing and parents’ equal right to confer nationality on their children, regardless of the parent’s gender, was also highlighted at the Summit.

“Without nationality, children are not protected and may be denied access to education, healthcare, family unity, and the ability to pursue their aspirations. Collaboration among governments, civil society organizations, and regional bodies towards achieving gender equality and safeguarding the rights and well-being of all individuals in the MENA region is of utmost priority,” said Marc Rubin, UNICEF Deputy Regional Director, Middle East and North Africa.

Recognizing recent reforms and progress, speakers at the Global Summit underscored that this is a man-made problem with a known, achievable solution that does not require significant resources, but rather, political will and action by States.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, underscored this by saying: “Statelessness and gender discriminatory nationality laws have a cure within our grasp. We have seen inspiring progress over the years, showing us all that where there is political will, it can be done, and reminding us that reform is possible, regardless of differences in language, culture or religion. Let us all do what it takes to achieve universal equality between women and men in nationality matters and consign this form of discrimination, once and for all, to the history books.”

Statement by the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights to inform the Universal Periodic Review of Oman

The Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights would like to respectfully raise the issue of gender discrimination in Oman’s nationality law for consideration during this second cycle of the country’s Universal Periodic Review.

The Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights (the Global Campaign) is a coalition of international and national organizations that promotes gender equality in nationality laws, so that women and men can confer, acquire, change and retain their nationality on an equal basis. The Campaign includes a Steering Committee of Equality Now, Equal Rights Trust, the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, UNHCR and Women’s Refugee Commission.

Oman’s nationality law, which discriminates on the basis of gender, violates the human rights of women, their children and their spouses in violation of the state’s human rights obligations and commitments to uphold international human rights treaties.

On September 19th and 20th, 2016, world leaders gather at the United Nations (UN) for two major summits on the global refugee and migration crisis – the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants co-chaired by the Governments of Jordan and Ireland and the Leaders’ Summit on Refugees convened by President Obama.

In advance of the Summit, 45 organizations, including Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights co-founder, Women's Refugee Commission, released the Joint Statement on Women and Girls towards the Global Refugee and Migrant Summits, outlining recommendations for states, as well as the specific challenges faced by displaced women and girls.

One of the ten recommendations calls on states to reform gender discriminatory nationality laws, recognizing such laws as a leading cause of statelessness; exacerbating the vulnerability of displaced women and their families; and in contravention with international law, which mandates non-discrimination on the basis of sex:

"At the Summits and beyond, states should commit to:
...
Reform gender discriminatory nationality laws to ensure that women and men have equal rights to confer nationality on their children and spouses. Gender discrimination in nationality laws is a leading cause of statelessness and has been recognized by the Security Council as a factor that exacerbates the vulnerability of displaced women and children. Further, forced displacement and migration from countries with gender-discriminatory nationality laws threatens to create a new generation of stateless children. These discriminatory laws also contravene Articles 2 and 9 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and other international human rights treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child articles 2, 7 and 8."

Such reforms were similarly called for in the new Human Rights Council Resolution, "The Right to a Nationality: Women's Equal Nationality Rights in Law and Practice," cosponsored in June 2016 by 107 governments. 

Full Joint Statement on Women and Girls towards the Global Refugee and Migrant Summits here. 

In thissubmission, Equality Now, the Bahrain Women’s Union, and the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights provide information and highlight concerns about sex discrimination in the law with regard to nationality in Bahrain. The submission also includes key recommendations regarding action by the government of Bahrain to better address this area of concern.

View the report here.