Letter to the King of Bahrain: Protect the Nationality of Bahraini Children and the Nationality Rights of Bahraini Mothers 

8 June 2026

Your Majesty,

We write to express our deep concern regarding the 27 April 2026 revocation of Bahraini nationality of 69 individuals, and the deportation of affected families, including mothers and children. Several of the co-signing organisations previously raised deep concern that this latest arbitrary deprivation of nationality violates basic international law standards, and called for the immediate restoration of the nationality and related rights and benefits of all impacted people. In this letter, which reiterates the position and recommendations of the earlier statement, the co-signing organisations focus particularly on the arbitrary and disproportionate impact on children, and relatedly, the importance of once-and-for-all, eradicating gender discrimination in Bahrain’s nationality laws and ensuring every woman’s right to confer nationality on their children, on an equal basis with men.   

Among the most alarming aspects of these recent measures are reports that children, including infants, reportedly ranging in age from 3 months old to 14 years old, lost their Bahraini nationality after the government revoked their fathers’ nationality.

These children lost their nationality after their fathers were arbitrarily stripped of their own nationality, despite having mothers who remain citizens of Bahrain. These recent events reveal two painful realities:

1. Contrary to Article 8 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) which protects every child’s right to preserve their nationality, a Bahraini child’s nationality can be taken away from them solely on the basis that their father has been deprived of his nationality; and

2.Contrary to Article 9(2) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which protects women equal rights in relation to the nationality of their children, a  Bahraini mother is legally unable to protect her own child from statelessness or deportation from their homeland. 

No Bahraini child or mother should be placed in such a position. 

This is not only a human rights concern. It is a profound family and national concern. These children belong to Bahrain as citizens in their own right, connected through their mothers and fathers, their families, and their place in Bahraini society. They are part of Bahrain’s present and future. Bahrain should not exclude children from their homeland on the basis of their fathers having been deprived of their citizenship, and their mothers having been denied  the equal right to pass on their nationality. 

The government of Bahrain should protect families from fear, separation, and insecurity. Article 5 of Bahrain’s constitution recognizes the family as “the cornerstone of society” and commits the state to protect motherhood and childhood and preserve family unity. Yet, Bahraini mothers are instead confronted by the inability to legally safeguard their own children’s nationality and belonging, while facing the risk of family separation and their children being forced to leave the country.

Stripping Bahraini children of their citizenship and deporting them undermines Bahrain’s constitutional and international commitments, harms social cohesion, sustainable development and Bahraini society as a whole. 

Under Bahrain’s current nationality framework, Bahraini men can automatically pass their nationality to their children, while Bahraini women cannot do so on an equal basis. This leaves women and their families especially vulnerable. 

The Supreme Council for Women, under the leadership of Her Royal Highness Sabika bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, has previously presented proposals to amend the Nationality Law, allowing Bahraini women married to non-Bahraini men to confer their nationality on their children. This effort underscores Bahrain’s recognition of the importance of granting nationality rights to mothers, a step that strengthens families and benefits all Bahrainis.

International human rights bodies, including the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and the Human Rights Committee, have repeatedly called on Bahrain to reform its nationality law to uphold gender equality and ensure that children of Bahraini women are protected from statelessness and arbitrary loss of nationality. 

Such reform would not only protect families from future harm but would also affirm the equal dignity and belonging of Bahraini women and their children as guaranteed under Bahrain’s Constitution. It would strengthen family unity, reinforce social cohesion, and reflect Bahrain’s constitutional principles and international commitments to gender equality and the rights of the child.

It can never be in the child’s best interests to be made stateless and to be deported from their country. It is also not in the child’s best interests to have to choose between being separated from a parent who has been arbitrarily deprived of their nationality, or being deported with their parent. 

Your Majesty, the April 2026 citizenship stripping and subsequent deportation of children of Bahraini mothers underscores that reforms to uphold women’s equal nationality rights are urgently needed, and are essential protections against statelessness, family separation, exclusion, and instability in Bahrain.

We therefore respectfully urge Your Majesty to take immediate action to protect affected children and families by:

1. restoring the Bahraini nationality of all individuals affected by the recent revocations; 

2. restoring the Bahraini nationality of children impacted by the recent revocations; and 

3. ensuring that no child is rendered stateless, deported, or separated from their country because their mother is denied equal nationality rights.

We further call on the Kingdom of Bahrain, in line with international human rights treaty bodies and Member States, to amend its nationality law to ensure that Bahraini women can confer nationality on their children on an equal basis with men.

Your Majesty, no Bahraini mother should have to watch her child lose their nationality, become stateless, or face deportation from the country to which they belong.

 

Signatories:

Al Rawnaq Organization for Women and Children

Bahrain Forum for Human Rights

Citizenship Affected People’s Network (CAPN)

CIVICUS

ESPACIO EMPODERAMIENTO JUVENIL ESCAPE

European Network on Statelessness

Family Frontiers, Malaysia

Focus Development Association

Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights (GCENR)

Global Movement Against Statelessness (GMAS)

GREEN AND BETTER WORLD

Gulf Institute for Democracy and Human Rights

HuMENA

Imkaan Welfare Organization (Pakistan)

Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI)

MENA Rights Group

MENA Statelessness Network (Hawiati)

Movimiento Sociocultural de trabajo humanitario y ambiental -MOSCTHA-

NASI Kuwait

Nationality For All (NFA)

Naya Nepal Samajik Sanstha (Nepal-Formerly as Citizenshipless Youth Struggle Committee)

Rights Realization Centre

Rohingya Youth development Association

Salam for Democracy and Human Rights (Salam DHR)

Somali Gender Hub

Statelessness and Dignified Citizenship Coalition – Asia Pacific (SDCC-AP)

Syrian Women League

Taita Taveta Human Rights Network

VISION DES FILLES LEADERS POUR LE DÉVELOPPEMENT (VIFILED ASBL)

Warsheh Team Syria

WATAN

Women Leadership Institute Iraq

Women’s Refugee Commission

Youth Sustainable Development Centre (YSDC)