Upon first glance, gender-based violence (GBV) and laws pertaining to citizenship may seem worlds apart. In fact, there are significant links between women’s nationality rights and GBV.  During these #16Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence, it is a good time to consider how gender discrimination in nationality laws contributes to violence against women and girls.

Nationality laws determine the ability to acquire, change, and retain one’s citizenship, as well as the ability to pass citizenship to children and non-national spouses. Though traditionally the nationality of wives and children was based on the nationality of the husband/father, over the 20^th century most countries reformed their nationality laws (and gave women the right to vote!), enabling women and men to confer citizenship on an equal basis.

However, today 27 countries still deny mothers the equal right to confer nationality on their children. Roughly 50 countries maintain other gender-discriminatory provisions in their nationality laws, such as denying women the right to equally confer nationality on spouses, or stripping women of their citizenship due to their marital status.  

When children do not have the right to their mother’s nationality, they are at risk of being stateless, a status whereby no state recognizes an individual as a citizen.[1] UNHCR conservatively estimates that there are over 10 million stateless persons worldwide. In addition to being a leading cause of statelessness, these laws impact several forms of gender-based violence and result in other human rights abuses:

• Domestic Violence:Gender discrimination in nationality laws can increase the obstacles faced by women attempting to leave abusive marriages and protect their children from abusers.  For example, in some countries, if a woman acquires another nationality through marriage with a foreign man, she may be stripped of that nationality upon divorce even if she resides in the country, potentially losing her ability to work, own land, or even remain in that country – thereby threatening her ability to care for her children. Similarly, if a woman has children with a man of a different nationality, but those children only have access to the father’s nationality, it may be difficult for her to return to her home country with her children when attempting to flee an abusive environment.  

• Human Trafficking: Research has shown that stateless women and girls are at an increased risk of being trafficked. Some of the reasons why stateless women and girls are at greater risk of human trafficking include obstacles they face in accessing education, formal employment, documentation, and freedom of movement. Statelessness is also linked with high poverty rates, depression, and feelings of hopelessness exploited by traffickers.

• Child Marriage:Due to the lack of opportunity and insecurity caused by gender-discriminatory nationality laws, some families view early marriage as a route to greater security for their daughters, who can access citizenship and therefore legal status through their husbands. Conversely, when child marriage occurs in countries that prohibit the practice, those marriages often go unregistered. In countries where women are unable to independently confer nationality, a missing marriage certificate means that children born of that union are at great risk of statelessness. With higher rates of child marriage among displaced populations from several countries with gender discriminatory nationality laws – including Syria and Iraq – the number of newborns at risk of stateless among this population increases. 
  
  
• Obstacles to Treatment and Services for GBV Survivors:Those without citizenship due to gender discrimination in nationality laws may lack accessing to public healthcare, inhibiting treatment for GBV survivors, including sexual and reproductive healthcare.

Outside of the forms of GBV listed above, gender discrimination in nationality laws has an even more fundamental link with GBV – one that has a harmful impact on a country’s entire population. Discriminatory nationality laws contribute to the primary root cause of gender-based violence: women’s unequal status in society.

When a State holds women’s citizenship as encompassing less rights than that of men, it shows that all citizens are really not equal, despite what any Constitution might claim. It shows that rights can be granted and denied based on gender. Gender discrimination in nationality laws implicitly endorses the idea that women should naturally hold less power than men, that they are beneath men, that the father is the ‘head of the household’ and the legitimate source of identity.

Scholarship on gender-based violence has overwhelmingly pointed to women’s unequal status as the primary root cause of violence against women and girls around the world. While every government has asserted their commitment to combating gender-based violence, this commitment requires that these governments take action to end gender discrimination in nationality laws and remove gender-discriminatory provisions from all laws.  

On the margins of the UN High-Level Political Forum, UN Women, UNICEF, UNHCR and the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights joined the Permanent Mission of Tunisia and the Office of the Permanent Observer for the League of Arab States to the United Nations at a side event, calling for the urgent repeal of gender-discriminatory nationality laws.

Although 196 countries have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and 189 have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), discrimination against women in nationality laws persist in some countries, undermining the rights of women and children around the world.

For instance, 25 countries continue to discriminate against women in their ability to confer their nationality on their children on an equal basis as men, leading to statelessness when children cannot acquire nationality from their fathers. In addition, an estimated 50 countries deny women equal rights with men to acquire, change or retain their nationality, including the ability of women to confer nationality on their non-national spouses. Without citizenship, children and foreign spouses are often subject to a range of restrictions in their job and education possibilities, their ability to travel, and to open bank accounts, own or inherit property.

On the theme “Realizing Gender-Equal Nationality Rights: Regional Developments and Good Practices”, the side event builds on the first Arab League conference devoted to advancing gender-equal nationality rights held in Cairo in 2017. This unprecedented convening served as the basis for the historic Arab Declaration on Belonging and Identity endorsed at the Arab League Ministerial Conference in 2018, which calls for undertaking reforms to uphold gender-equal nationality rights; the removal of reservations to CEDAW Article 9 on women’s equal nationality rights; and national plans for the implementation of the Arab Declaration.

Today’s event is taking place at a time when a number of other regional efforts are underway to fulfil gender equality in nationality laws. For instance, the African Union is in the process of finalizing a draft Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Right to Nationality. The Protocol calls on Member States of the African Union to uphold equal nationality rights and as well as the elimination of statelessness. Similarly, the Economic Community of West African States is implementing its 2015 Abidjan Declaration of Ministers of ECOWAS Member States on the Eradication of Statelessness, which is dedicated to eradicating gender discrimination in nationality laws in line with CEDAW.

UN agencies speaking at the side event urged countries to seize the momentum, while ensuring that no one is left behind in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

On the margins of the UN High-Level Political Forum, UN Women, UNICEF, UNHCR and the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights joined the Permanent Mission of Tunisia and the Office of the Permanent Observer for the League of Arab States to the United Nations at a side event, calling for the urgent repeal of gender-discriminatory nationality laws.

Although 196 countries have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and 189 have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), discrimination against women in nationality laws persist in some countries, undermining the rights of women and children around the world.

For instance, 25 countries continue to discriminate against women in their ability to confer their nationality on their children on an equal basis as men, leading to statelessness when children cannot acquire nationality from their fathers. In addition, an estimated 50 countries deny women equal rights with men to acquire, change or retain their nationality, including the ability of women to confer nationality on their non-national spouses. Without citizenship, children and foreign spouses are often subject to a range of restrictions in their job and education possibilities, their ability to travel, and to open bank accounts, own or inherit property.

On the theme “Realizing Gender-Equal Nationality Rights: Regional Developments and Good Practices”, the side event builds on the first Arab League conference devoted to advancing gender-equal nationality rights held in Cairo in 2017. This unprecedented convening served as the basis for the historic Arab Declaration on Belonging and Identity endorsed at the Arab League Ministerial Conference in 2018, which calls for undertaking reforms to uphold gender-equal nationality rights; the removal of reservations to CEDAW Article 9 on women’s equal nationality rights; and national plans for the implementation of the Arab Declaration.

Today’s event is taking place at a time when a number of other regional efforts are underway to fulfil gender equality in nationality laws. For instance, the African Union is in the process of finalizing a draft Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Right to Nationality. The Protocol calls on Member States of the African Union to uphold equal nationality rights and as well as the elimination of statelessness. Similarly, the Economic Community of West African States is implementing its 2015 Abidjan Declaration of Ministers of ECOWAS Member States on the Eradication of Statelessness, which is dedicated to eradicating gender discrimination in nationality laws in line with CEDAW.

UN agencies speaking at the side event urged countries to seize the momentum, while ensuring that no one is left behind in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

September 23, New York - At a high level event on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, UN Women, the UN Development Programme, UNHCR, the Commonwealth and the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights called for reform of nationality laws that discriminate on the basis of gender. Twenty-five countries retain nationality laws that deny women the right to confer citizenship on their children on an equal basis with men. More than fifty countries have nationality laws with gender-discriminatory provisions, with most denying women the same right as men to pass nationality to a noncitizen spouse.

Gender discrimination in nationality laws undermines women’s equal citizenship and results in wide-ranging rights violations and hardships for affected families, including obstacles to accessing education, healthcare, employment, family unity, freedom of movement, inheritance and property rights. Gender discrimination in nationality laws is also a primary cause of statelessness, which affects millions of people globally, and is also linked with gender-based violence. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, gender discrimination in nationality laws is exacerbating the vulnerability of affected families.

As the UN marks its 75th anniversary and the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action – a groundbreaking agreement by all members of the UN to eliminate discrimination against women – panelists at today’s high level event underscored that gender-equal nationality laws are essential to achieving gender equality, sustainable development, and security.

UN Women Deputy Executive Director Anita Bhatia, speaking on behalf of the UN agencies co-sponsoring the event, including the UN Development Programme and UNHCR, emphasized, “Eliminating gender discrimination in nationality laws is a peace and security imperative, as well as a human rights and development issue. Putting an end to gender discrimination in nationality laws would have profound impacts on hundreds of thousands of lives through, for example, improved access to education, health care, identity documents, employment and inheritance, as well as the reduction of statelessness, conflict, and forced displacement globally.”

At the event, the governments of Eswatini and Togo were represented by their Ministers of Justice, Pholile Shakantu and Kokouvi Agbetomy, who discussed their countries’ current efforts to advance nationality law reforms to uphold gender equality. The Government of Eswatini and a number of others pledged reform at a High-Level Segment on Statelessness that UNHCR hosted last year to help advance the #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness.

Highlighting the importance of gender equality in nationality laws to individuals' and countries' wellbeing at the event, Commonwealth Secretary-General Rt. Hon Patricia Scotland empasized, "Gender equality and women’s empowerment are essential components of human development and basic human rights."

A young Nepali activist, Neha Gurung, shared the impact of statelessness on her life, as a result of her mother’s inability to confer nationality on her child at birth, and called for all countries to enshrine equal nationality rights for women and men in law.

Though unfortunately historically common in many countries, the number of States with gender discriminatory nationality laws continues to decrease and momentum for gender-equal nationality rights is building in countries where such legislation persists.

Speaking on behalf of the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights, manager Catherine Harrington stressed, “Gender-equal nationality laws are not only fundamental to women’s equal citizenship, but support children’s rights, families’ wellbeing, and sustainable development, thereby benefitting society as a whole. Now is the time to end gender discrimination in nationality laws – a harmful, man-made problem – once and for all.”

Join us Thursday, November 11: 8:30-10:00 EST / 14:30-16:00 CET / 16:30-18:00 AST / 21:30-23:00 MST

Click here to register.

Twenty-five countries* have nationality laws that deny women the right to pass citizenship to their children on an equal basis with men. Approximately fifty countries** have laws that deny women the right to confer nationality on their spouse on an equal basis with men. While undermining women and men’s equality, such laws result in wide-ranging violations of international human rights law and commitments made by governments through UN agreements. National-level advocacy and domestic pressure on policymakers is essential to achieving nationality law reforms to uphold gender equality. At the same time, United Nations human rights mechanisms and related bodies provide important entry points to initiate, complement and bolster national advocacy. As members of the UN, States have obligations to uphold international human rights law, including rights outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and based on their ratification of the nine core human rights treaties. States have also committed themselves to global agreements and standards, such as the Sustainable Development Goals, which are relevant to the elimination of gender discrimination in nationality laws. Especially given the many challenges associated with advocacy for gender-equal nationality rights, campaigns for reform benefit from taking a multi-pronged approach that includes strategic UN-related advocacy.

On November 11, experts from multiple regions will share learnings from their experiences leveraging UN-related advocacy for gender-equal nationality rights in a webinar organized by the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights and cosponsored by Collective for Research and Training on Development-Action, Equality Bahamas, Family Frontiers, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, "My Nationality is a Right for Me and My Family" Campaign, Nationality For All, and Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung-Geneva Office.

Speakers:

• Karima Chebbo, Collective for Research and Training on Development-Action
• Amal de Chickera, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion
• Subin Mulmi, Nationality for All
• Bina Ramanand, Family Frontiers
• Mirna Sabbagh, a Lebanese mother denied the right to pass her citizenship to her children
• Melinda Anne Sharlini, Family Frontiers
• Alicia Wallace, Equality Bahamas

Speaker bios on event registration page.

*Countries with nationality laws that deny women the right to confer nationality on their 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 with nationality laws that deny women the right to confer nationality on their spouse on an equal basis with men:
The Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Brunei Darussalam, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo, Egypt, Eswatini, Guatemala, Guinea, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kiribati, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Tanzania and Yemen.