BACKGROUND NOTE ON GENDER EQUALITY, NATIONALITY LAWS AND STATELESSNESS 2019 UNHCR continues its works with a range of other governments and civil society groups to promote reform to nationality laws and assist in their implementation. The year 2019 will mark the mid-point of the #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness by 2024 and will be an opportunity to review developments and achievements since the Campaign was launched. To this end, a High-Level Segment on Statelessness will be convened on 7 October 2019, as part of UNHCR’s annual Executive Committee meeting. States that are in the process of reviewing their nationality laws with a view to removing provisions that discriminate against women are encouraged to complete these processes before the High-Level Segment so that they can use the opportunity to announce concrete achievements in this area. States that are yet to commence the process of law reform are encouraged to pursue efforts that will enable them to deliver pledges during the High Level Segment to achieve gender-equal nationality laws by the end of the Campaign in 2024. Uneven ability of women to confer nationality on their children The table below uses a color scheme to divide the laws of the 25 States into three categories. The laws of the first group of countries (red) have nationality laws which do not allow mothers to confer their nationality on their children with no, or very limited, exceptions – these laws create the greatest risk of statelessness. The laws of the second group of countries (orange) have some safeguards against the creation of statelessness (for example making exceptions for mothers to confer nationality if the father is unknown or stateless). The laws of the third group of countries (yellow) also limit the conferral of nationality by women but additional guarantees ensure that statelessness will only arise in very few circumstances. 6 The Bahamas Iran Lebanon Nepal Sudan Bahrain Iraq Liberia Oman eSwatini Barbados Jordan Libya Qatar Syria Brunei Darussalam Kiribati Malaysia Saudi Arabia Togo Burundi Kuwait Mauritania Somalia United Arab Emirates UNHCR | 8 March 2019