Regional Report on Citizenship: The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) 3. Comparative overview of current nationality laws in the MENA region Having developed a historical understanding of how nationality is perceived in the region, this section will focus on the current laws that define access to nationality. Each country in the MENA region has developed its own domestic nationality laws, and no two look the same. This section, however, highlights some of the common trends of nationality legislation that can be seen across the region, or within particular sub-regions, with a focus on how an individual can acquire and lose nationality in the MENA region. 3.1. Acquisition of nationality Ius sanguinis Ius sanguinis pertains to the concept of obtaining nationality through a familial link – in other words blood ties to a country. It is also a system that fits well with the understanding of familial and tribal kinship, and the importance attributed to ancestry, in most of the countries in the region.42 Ius sanguinis acquisition of nationality features in the MENA states in the rules attributing nationality at birth (i.e. by descent). The vast majority of people in the MENA acquire their nationality by descent at birth, automatically and with no state discretion. All countries recognise paternal ius sanguinis in their nationality laws, meaning that a child of a male citizen is a citizen. It is irrelevant where the child is born, whether within the country or abroad. That it happens automatically means there is no need for registration of the child or any action by the state. The exception is Libya, where for a child who is born abroad a registration procedure must be completed before he or she is recognized as a national.43 With regards to maternal ius sanguinis, where the mother transfers the nationality, the rules are much more complicated. Israeli, Algerian, Egyptian, Moroccan and Tunisian nationality laws are the only ones that clearly allow for the transmission of nationality from mother to child on the same terms as from father to child, with the North African countries having reformed in the past 20 years. This means again that acquisition of nationality is automatic and it is irrelevant where the child is born. In all other countries, the situation is more complex, for a variety of reasons. In Iraq and Libya the laws provide for maternal ius sanguinis, but there is an inconsistency in the laws due to the retention of older discriminatory provisions. In Iraq and Libya, there is also only maternal ius sanguinis but only if the child is born in the respective country. Moreover, a number of other countries also set birth on the territory of the state as an additional condition that must be met for a mother to automatically transfer her nationality to her child – this is the case in Yemen and Mauritania. For example, children born to a Mauritanian mother abroad will need to complete a registration procedure, unlike a child born to a Mauritanian father abroad.44 In all other MENA countries, restrictions imposed on the transmission of nationality by women to their children are much more substantial and affect 42 See G. Parolin, Nationality in the Arab World. Kin, Religion and Nation State, Amsterdam University Press, 2009. Section 3 Law Number 24 for 2010/1378 44 Portant code de la Nationalité Mauritanienne, 1961 43 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-Comp. 2017/3- © 2017 Author(s) 11