In Europe, many people were left stateless after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In addition to or underlying the aforementioned causes of statelessness, discrimination in nationality law or in practice against certain parts of the population and arbitrary deprivation of nationality contribute significantly to the creation or perpetuation of statelessness. Based on for example ethnicity or religious beliefs, a certain group within a State or populations living across multiple States are sometimes denied or deprived of nationality. Examples of such populations are the Rohingya in Myanmar the Bidoon in the Arab Gulf States, and parts of the Roma population in Europe. Discrimination on the ground of gender can also be a cause of statelessness. In some nationality laws, women are not able to pass on their nationality to their children. Moreover, women may lose their nationality upon marriage or upon dissolution of the marriage. The impossibility for women to transmit their nationality to their children is especially problematic in cases where children are born out of wedlock or where the father is unknown, has passed away, has left, is stateless or is a foreigner who is unable to transmit his own nationality or who is unwilling to take the necessary administrative steps to do so. Currently, 27 States still discriminate against women in their laws with regard to transmission of nationality to their children, the majority of which can be found in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.9 At the same time, laws which discriminate against children born out of wedlock, making it more difficult for them to acquire their father’s nationality, can also contribute to creating statelessness. 1.3.3 Consequences of statelessness Most stateless persons encounter many difficulties in every aspect of daily life. Stateless parents may experience difficulties in obtaining a birth certificate for their children and stateless persons generally have problems obtaining personal identification documents. Without such documents, they have difficulties enjoying their basic rights. They may face obstacles accessing education or health care services, entering the labour market, traveling abroad, or owning land or other property. Stateless persons may not be able to open a bank account, to inherit or to get legally married. Stateless persons may be detained for prolonged or repeated periods because they have no identity documents or right to stay in the country they are in. Consequently, stateless persons often face destitution and many stateless populations belong to the most marginalized and vulnerable groups worldwide. 1.4 The international and regional legal framework The international legal framework relating to statelessness consists of international instruments and regional instruments. At the international level, two conventions deal specifically with statelessness: the aforementioned 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. The 1954 Convention aims to guarantee to persons who are stateless the enjoyment of a minimum set of rights while the 1961 Convention provides a set of safeguards for states to include in their nationality laws to ensure that statelessness is avoided. The 1954 Convention entered into force in 1960 and has 83 State Parties.10 The 1961 Convention entered into force in 1975 and has 61State Parties at the time of publication.11 This report 10 9 UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Background Note on Gender Equality, Nationality Laws and Statelessness 2014, 8 March 2014, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/532075964.html 10 As of October 2014. UN Treaty Collection database, available at: http://goo.gl/GTvqGl 11 As of October 2014. UN Treaty Collection database, available at: http://goo.gl/GTvqGl MAPPING STATELESSNESS IN FINL AND