CHAPTER I CHAPTER II Child: “Every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier”, as defined in Article 1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The term includes adolescents and is preferable to the term minor. CHAPTER III Country of habitual residence: The country in which a person usually resides. The term is specifically relevant for stateless people, where it is used to define a stateless person’s country of origin. CHAPTER IV Country of origin: The country an asylum-seeker, refugee or migrant comes from and of which they possess nationality. In the case of stateless people, the country where they have (or had) their habitual residence, (or where they were born, depending on context). Foundling: An infant or child that has been abandoned by its parents and whose parentage and identity are unknown. CHAPTER V Gender equality: Gender equality refers to the equal enjoyment of rights, responsibilities and opportunities of people of any gender. Ensuring gender equality in nationality laws is essential to reducing risks of statelessness. For example, eliminating gender discrimination in nationality legislation so that women can confer nationality on their children on an equal basis with men can help prevent childhood statelessness. Discrimination between men and women in nationality matters is addressed in a number of international human rights treaties. Article 9 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) guarantees women’s equality (i) with respect to acquisition, change, or retention of their nationality and (ii) their ability to confer nationality on their children.8 CHAPTER VI CHAPTER VII Host country: The country in which a non-national stays or resides, whether legally or irregularly. 8 Background Note on Gender Equality, Nationality Laws and Statelessness 2024, UNHCR, 8 March 2024, pp. 2-3. For a discussion of issues relating to childhood statelessness relating to parents’ gender or sexual identity, see Thomas McGee, ‘Rainbow Statelessness’ — Between Sexual Citizenship and Legal Theory, The Statelessness & Citizenship Review, 2(1) (2020), pp. 86–111. ANNEXES 5 RECOMMENDATIONS In situ stateless person (or stateless person, in situ): Stateless people that have never crossed an international border, but find themselves stateless in their ‘own