Engagement with human rights mechanisms to advocate for reform The issue of gender discrimination in nationality laws has also received significant attention in recent years as part of the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which involves a regular review of the human rights record of all 193 UN Member States. From 2008 to 2020, at least 250 Recommendations were made concerning the removal of gender discriminatory provisions in nationality laws. Of the States that received and ‘accepted’ these Recommendations, Monaco, Bangladesh, Tunisia, Suriname, Madagascar, Liberia, and Sierra Leone have since reformed their gender discriminatory nationality laws 10. Iran, which ‘accepted’ the Recommendation once and ‘noted’ the second time, has partially reformed its nationality law. The United Arab Emirates, which ‘noted’ the Recommendation’, has also partially reformed its nationality law subsequent to a Recommendation being received. Almost 200 of the total number of Recommendations on this issue were directed at the 24 countries that still discriminate in conferral of nationality to children. Nearly a fifth of those have been accepted: Bahamas (4), Bahrain (11), Barbados (4), Brunei Darussalam (1), Burundi (1), Iran (1), Kiribati (1), Libya (4), Nepal (6), Oman (2), Qatar (1), Syria (4), and Togo (1). The #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness UNHCR’s #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness in 10 years, launched in November 2014, envisages the achievement of gender equality in all nationality laws by the year 2024 as part of the Campaign’s broader goals. A practical strategy through which this can be achieved is set out in Action 3 of the Global Action Plan. The objective of achieving gender equality in nationality laws is also supported by Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals.11 UNHCR continues its work with a range of governments and civil society groups to promote reform to nationality laws and assist in their implementation. 10 For Iran this reform is partial and some discrimination remains 11 UNHCR, The Sustainable Development Goals and Addressing Statelessness, March 2017, available at: https://www. refworld.org/docid/58b6e3364.html 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 4 5