Africa Nationality laws in six countries in Africa do not provide mothers equal rights as fathers to confer their nationality on their children, leading to a risk of statelessness for such children.14 Under the 1962 Citizenship Law of Somalia, Somali mothers have no ability to confer their nationality to their children. Eswatini’s Constitution stipulates that children born after 2005 can only acquire nationality from their Swazi fathers, unless the child was born out of wedlock and has not been claimed by the father in accordance with customary law, in which case the Swazi mother can pass on her nationality. In addition, Eswatini’s 1992 Citizenship Act contains the same provisions, applicable to children born after 1992. States with constitutional guarantees of equality that have not yet reformed nationality laws to introduce gender equality Four African States – Burundi, Liberia, Sudan, and Togo – have enshrined the principle of gender equality in recent constitutions but have yet to reform the relevant provisions of their nationality laws. 15 In principle, constitutional provisions prevail over the nationality law in each State. However, because nationality laws tend to be more specific and practice-oriented, administrative authorities may be more likely to apply the older provisions of these laws rather than look to constitutional guarantees of gender equality. For example, in Burundi, the 2000 Nationality Code does not allow Burundian mothers to confer nationality to their children except when maternal filiation is established in situations where they are born out of wedlock to unknown fathers or disowned by their fathers. This is at variance with Article 12 of Burundi’s 2005 Constitution, which guarantees Burundian men and women equality in nationality matters. 14 In Guinea, even though women and men have equal rights to confer nationality to children, a child born abroad to a Guinean mother and a foreign father can repudiate Guinean nationality 10 months before reaching majority. In Benin, although children can acquire nationality from their mothers, in some cases, these children can renounce nationality within 6 months of reaching majority. This is the case for children born abroad to a foreign father and to those born in Benin. 15 The discrepancies between constitutional and nationality law provisions in the Gambia, Lesotho and Zimbabwe are not included in this list as it is clear that in these countries the provisions of their respective constitutions prevail. In the Gambia, the chapter on citizenship in the Constitution, which is the law applied for nationality matters, has addressed the discrimination related to transmission of nationality to children born abroad contained in the Citizenship Act. In Lesotho, discrimination with respect to women’s ability to confer nationality to children present in Part II of the Citizenship Act was repealed by Article 166 of the Constitution. In Zimbabwe, the Constitution contradicts the discriminatory provisions contained in the Citizenship Act, and in the cases where inconsistencies were challenged in court the Constitution prevailed. However, these citizenship acts should still be amended in order to be aligned with the gender equal provisions of each constitution. U N H C R > B A C K G R O U N D N O T E O N G E N D E R E Q U A L I T Y, N AT I O N A L I T Y L A W S A N D S TAT E L E S S N E S S 2 0 2 1 9