Progress since the start of the Campaign Since the beginning of the #IBelong Campaign, three countries have reformed their nationality laws to allow mothers to confer their nationality on their children on an equal basis as men: Madagascar and Sierra Leone in 2017, and Liberia in 2022. In 2017, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) partially reformed its law to allow Emirati women married to foreigners to confer their nationality on their children aged six years and above, subject to a number of conditions. This adds to the existing circumstances in which Emirati women can confer their nationality, for example where children are born in the UAE and their fathers are unknown, stateless or where the paternal relationship has not been substantiated. In 2019, Iran partially reformed its law to allow Iranian women to submit an application to confer their nationality on their children wherever they are born. The Government retains discretion as to whether to grant or deny conferral of nationality requested in the application. While the reform does not put mothers and fathers on a fully equal footing with respect to their ability to confer nationality on their children, it represents a significant incremental improvement. Since the law amendment, according to a report by the National Center for Cultural Observance, over 109,000 individuals have applied for Iranian nationality and 26,000 of them have been issued Iranian national identity documentation by January 2024. The same report indicates that out of 62,056 applicants from Sistan and Baluchestan province, only four individuals successfully naturalized, and a large proportion of applications are still pending or have been rejected. In July 2023, a parliamentary group In Iran proposed a new bill, which, if adopted, would amend the 2019 nationality law. The new bill aims at restricting the applicability of the 2019 law, allowing only children above the age of 18 born to officially registered marriages to apply for naturalization, whereas according to the 2019 law, children from Sharia marriages (not officially registered), which took place before the adoption of the law, are also eligible to apply for naturalization. This bill also introduces new requirements for eligible children, such as renouncing their other nationality and a DNA test proving their lineage to the Iranian mother. Eligible children below 18 will be provided with a residence permit based on their father’s residence status. The amendment remains under review by the parliament. 6 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