Box 2: Gaps in the law contributing to statelessness  Gender discrimination Where women cannot transmit their nationality to their children, those who have children with a father of another nationality (or who is stateless or of unknown nationality), who have children out of wedlock or with a father who abandons a child or who dies without leaving nationality documentation or obtaining nationality documents for his children, face a real risk that their children will be stateless, especially if they do not live in the country of the father.  Racial and ethnic discrimination Racial and ethnic discrimination in the law leaves those who are not perceived to be of the “right” racial or ethnic group at risk of statelessness, especially where combined with discrimination on the basis of sex and the father is from another group.  Weak rights attached to birth in the country Countries which provide very limited rights based on birth in the country – in particular, that provide no access to nationality for those born in the country and resident during their childhood (enabling automatic or optional access to nationality at the latest at majority) typically have large populations of people who are stateless.  Dual nationality rules hard to interpret In the many West African countries, the rules on dual nationality are very hard to interpret, leading to a widespread belief that dual nationality is not permitted, even when there is no objection in law, especially for persons who potentially have two nationalities from birth.  Provisions on state successions have created statelessness Many countries face continuing problems related to poor management of nationality in the transitional provisions of the laws adopted at independence. State successions since independence have also failed to provide carefully for the nationality those who live in a territory transferred between two states (see section 4.6).  Non-existent systems for the protection of stateless persons No West African country has a legal framework in place to identify and provide a status for stateless persons and facilitate their acquisition of a nationality. 31