reduction or removal of gender discrimination, so that it is increasingly common for a woman to be able to pass her nationality to her children and spouse on equal terms with men; and acceptance of dual nationality. A trend that goes against the more common direction of law reform globally has been the increasing emphasis on nationality based on descent rather than birth in the country. Gender discrimination was removed for the transmission of nationality to children in Nigeria in 1974; in Guinea in 1983; in Burkina Faso in 1989; in Niger in 1999; and in Senegal in 2013. It was reduced in Mali in 1995 and removed in 2011; and for children born in Sierra Leone in 2006 (though retained for children born outside the country). Discrimination in relation to acquisition of nationality by marriage was also reduced through some of the same laws, though it is retained in more countries. (See sections 2.6.1 and 2.6.4.) Laws were adopted permitting or extending rights to dual nationality in Cape Verde in 1992, in Nigeria in 1999, in Ghana in 2000; in Gambia in 2001 (for citizens by birth only), in Sierra Leone in 2006, and in Niger in 2014. In 2010, Guinea Bissau adopted amendments to its law that (among other things) clarified that dual nationality was allowed in all cases. (See section 2.6.6.) Nigeria, Gambia, Ghana and Sierra Leone have followed a trend across Commonwealth countries in Africa, and removed the right to nationality based purely on birth in the territory that was included in the independence constitutions; in most cases to remove any rights at all based on birth in the country, even if the child is otherwise stateless. Sierra Leone applies a double jus soli rule in the case of a child born in the country of one parent also there, but it depends on being “of negro-African descent”. This restriction of rights based on birth in the country was also reflected in some of the civil law countries, including Côte d’Ivoire and Niger, which (in 1972 and 1973 respectively) both removed the right to opt for nationality at majority for those born in the country of foreign parents, though Niger retained its double jus soli rule.24 In Côte d’Ivoire, the same amending act even removed the right to nationality for an abandoned infant found in Côte d’Ivoire. Since the original law had not provided for double jus soli, birth in the country now provided no rights to nationality in any circumstances. 2.5. Constitutional and legislative guarantees of the right to a nationality All ECOWAS states are parties to treaties that provide for the right to a nationality, including in particular the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the nondiscrimination treaties which include specific prohibitions on discrimination in relation to nationality.25 In the civil law countries, these treaties have direct effect, and the nationality codes frequently repeat the statement that the provisions of treaties to which the State is a party will prevail over national law. In West Africa, only Guinea Bissau provides in its constitution that every person has the right to a nationality.26 However, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Niger specifically provide in their 24 Cote d’Ivoire Loi no. 72-852 du 21 décembre 1972; Niger Loi no. 73-10 du 27 Février 1973. Including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 26 Guiné Bissau Constitution 1984, as amended to 1996, article 44. 25 12