UN agencies, together with the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights, call for reform of nationality laws that discriminate on the basis of gender

At a high-level event on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, UN Women, the UN Development Programme, UNHCR, 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 non-citizen 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.

“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,” said UN Women Deputy Executive Director Anita Bhatia. 

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.

Original source: UN Women