Member States, but also among the region’s international partners, including UN agencies and the IOM. Reform of nationality law and practice is not just a technical problem, as the history of nationality law reforms in West Africa (and Africa, and the rest of the world) show. Changes to the laws since independence have responded both to fears of dominance by immigrants, when rights based on birth in the territory have been removed; and also to activism from women’s rights advocates and national diasporas as gender discrimination has been reduced and dual nationality been increasingly allowed. Providing access to nationality to those who do not currently have recognition of the right can be criticised by some as creating access to power and resources (especially land) for those who should not have the right to do so. However, failing to provide effective systems by which migrants and their descendants can obtain the nationality of the country where they now live has long term negative consequences, not just for the individuals concerned, but also for peace and security in the region. In the most extreme cases, those who cannot obtain recognition of their nationality in the country where they were born and brought up and where they have the centre of their life have taken to arms to defend their right to belong, or to create a state where they will belong. Each country and region must find its own balance; but international norms on the avoidance of statelessness should frame these debates. Ensuring the right to a nationality does not only provide the most basic guarantee of other rights due to a national; but also provides the foundation of the security of the state itself. The ECOWAS region, with its strong traditions of inter-state cooperation in regulation of migration and promotion of free movement, is well placed to take a lead in resolving these issues among its Member States. 4