The Bahamas Eswatini Kuwait Mauritania Somalia Bahrain Iran Lebanon Nepal Sudan Barbados Iraq Liberia Oman Syria Brunei Darussalam Jordan Libya Qatar Togo Burundi Kiribati Malaysia Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates Overview of nationality laws Middle East and North Africa Nationality laws in twelve countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region do not grant equality to women with regard to the right to pass their nationality to their children. The nationality law in Qatar does not permit Qatari mothers to confer their nationality on their children, without exception, even if this would result in statelessness. Under the Kuwaiti nationality law, where a Kuwaiti mother has a child with a father who is unknown or whose paternity has not been established, the individual concerned may apply for Kuwaiti citizenship at majority. The same applies to a person born to a Kuwaiti mother whose foreign father has divorced the mother or who has died. In all such cases, nationality is granted by Decree based on the discretionary recommendation of the Minister of Interior. Under the nationality law of Lebanon, Lebanese women can only confer their citizenship if the child is born out of wedlock and recognized by the Lebanese mother while a minor. The nationality laws of Jordan and Libya do not allow women married to foreign nationals to pass their nationality to their children. However, in certain circumstances, they do permit women to confer their nationality on their children born in the territory, for example where fathers are unknown, stateless, of unknown nationality or do not establish filiation. 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 7