A/HRC/36/30 10. Two international conventions specifically dealing with the issue of statelessness, i.e. the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, imposed obligations on a contracting State to take measures to avoid statelessness, including: (a) granting its nationality to a person born in its territory or born to one of its nationals abroad in a non-State party who would otherwise be stateless; 10 (b) ensuring that the loss of its nationality is conditional upon possession or acquisition of another nationality; 11 and (c) facilitating the naturalization of stateless persons.12 11. While it was at the discretion of each State to determine by law who its nationals were, such determination should be consistent with its obligations under international law, including with respect to non-discrimination.13 12. Discrimination against women in nationality laws was one of the primary causes of statelessness, both for women and their family members. 14 Experts and participants highlighted that statelessness resulted in wide-ranging and significant hardships that could affect individuals and their families for generations and impair their enjoyment of various human rights. The denial of the enjoyment of human rights faced by stateless persons included: (a) participation in political processes (the rights to vote and run for public office); (b) access to social services, such as public health-care services and social security (the rights to health and social security); (c) access to education and job opportunities (the rights to education and to work); (d) access to housing (the right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate housing); (e) access to identity documents and other essential tools for economic activities, such as drivers’ licences, bank accounts, property and land ownership and financial resources (the rights to work and to an adequate standard of living); (f) access to justice (the right to justice and an effective remedy); (g) freedom of movement (freedoms of movement and residence, freedom to leave or enter their own country); (h) legally recognized marriage (the right to marry and to found a family); and (i) family unity (the child’s right to family unity). 13. For stateless persons, there may also be an increased risk of: (a) arbitrary arrest and detention (the right to liberty and security of person); (b) exploitation, including child labour and human trafficking (freedom from slavery and servitude); (c) harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage (prohibition of child marriage, freedom from violence); and (d) being confined to abusive relations, such as domestic violence (the right to life, freedom from violence, equality in marriage and family life). 14. The testimonies of persons affected by statelessness, including stateless persons and women who could not confer their nationality on their children or spouses, thus rendering them stateless, underscored that the right to nationality was a basis for their identity and dignity and was “a right to exist” and “a right to belong”. One person, who was stateless partially because her mother could not confer her nationality on her children, elaborated on how she had been denied opportunities to develop herself to full potential owing to the lack of nationality. In another testimony, a person who had married a stateless man portrayed how her husband and children had been alienated as stateless persons and how distressing it had been for her not to be able to confer her nationality on them. Another person recounted that her husband and children had been forced to leave her country of nationality, despite their long-term residence and their preference for living in her country, as she could not confer her nationality on them. Some persons who had gained nationality after a nationality law reform described how they felt liberated and dignified afterwards. 15. Some experts and participants pointed out that the elimination of discrimination against women in nationality rights contributed to the fulfilment of international commitments made by States. Following the Fourth World Conference on Women, delegates from 189 countries had pledged to revoke any remaining laws that discriminated 10 See Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, arts. 1 and 4. Ibid., arts. 5-8. 12 See Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, art. 32. 13 See Human Rights Council resolution 32/7, para. 2. 14 See A/HRC/23/23, para. 7. See also “Background Note on Gender Equality” (footnote 1 above). 11 4