For example the Committee in its 2014 review of Kuwait4 and its 2012 review of Madagascar5 made strong recommendations to the respective states to end gender discrimination in their nationality laws. According to Qatar’s Nationality Act No. 38 of 2005, a Qatari mother cannot confer nationality on her children under any circumstance – one of the most restrictive discrimination worldwide - while Qatari men automatically confer nationality on their children whether the child is born abroad or in the country. Article 1.4 of the law states, “Any person born in Qatar or in a foreign country to a Qatari father in accordance with the preceding Articles.” In its last concluding observations on Qatar issued in October 2008, the Committee “urge[d] the State party to critically review its Nationality Act in order to ensure that nationality can be transmitted to children through both the maternal and paternal line without distinction.” (CRC/C/QAT/CO/2, ¶34). The Committee also noted in 2008 that “no sufficient follow-up has been given to its recommendation on the right to acquire a nationality in the previous concluding observations” (CRC/C/15/Add.163, para. 41).6 Qatari women are also denied the right to confer their nationality to foreign spouses, a right that is reserved for men. CRC Article 2 calls on State parties to respect and ensure the rights set forth in the Convention irrespective of the child’s or his or her parent’s sex. Article 7 of the CRC states that a child has “the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents … in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless.” Article 8 calls for States Parties to “undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations…” Qatar’s law does not fulfill the requirements of Articles 2, 7 and 8 and should be amended without delay, including by allowing Qatari women the same right to pass their nationality to their children as that accorded Qatari men. In addition, Qatari women’s inability to confer nationality on their foreign spouses threatens a child’s right to know and be cared for by his or her parents which would violate Article 7 of the CRC. For example, when foreign men are denied access to their spouses’ nationality, they may be forced to live away from their children due to challenges in acquiring residency permits and obstacles to employment. In addition, a father may threaten to take any children away from the mother and back to his home country for a number of reasons, including if his employment and social status in his wife’s country is insecure because of his nationality status. His wife may have very limited legal means to oppose such a threat. Sex discrimination in nationality laws can result in significant violations of children’s rights, as well as the rights of women and their foreign spouses, including: statelessness; lack of access to public education, healthcare and other services; increased risk of gender-based violence; impeded family reunification; 4 CRC/C/KWT/CO/2 2013: “Ensure gender equality in the 1959 Nationality Act in order for all children born to a Kuwaiti mother and nonKuwaiti father to automatically acquire their mother’s nationality” 5 CRC/C/MDG/CO/3-4 2012: “The Committee recommends that the State party urgently finalize the reform of the legislation on nationality of children and ensures that no discrimination exists against children born of a Malagasy mother and a father of foreign nationality or children born out of wedlock. The Committee also urges the State party to ensure that children born in Madagascar do not risk being stateless.” 6 “The Committee is concerned that the 1961 Nationality Act does not grant citizenship to children of Qatari women married to non-nationals, as it does where the father is Qatari. The Committee recommends that the State party ensure the right of a child to a nationality without discrimination on the basis of either parent’s sex, in accordance with articles 2 and 7 of the Convention.” CRC/C/15/Add.163, para 41-42