or stateless person – therefore only granting Emirati nationality to children born with Emirati fathers. Women are thus unable to pass on their nationality to their children if they are married to a foreign national or a stateless person.29 The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women therefore raised its concerns about the Law on Nationality stating that it has the effect of “placing children of Emirati women at increased risk of statelessness” and that “there is no possibility for children of stateless parents to obtain Emirati nationality”.30 The Committee therefore recommended that the state party revises its legislation, withdraws its reservation to article 9 of CEDAW, and ratifies the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons of 1954 and the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness of 1961,31 which the UAE has failed to implement. Statelessness is therefore an important issue in the UAE, and Amnesty International has noted that stateless individuals lack access to healthcare and education on equal terms, as they face discriminations compared to Emirati nationals.32 Likewise, nationals of the UAE are entitled to an array of privileges including free land and interest-free loans to build homes, which leaves those without any nationality discriminated against compared to nationals. The lack of appropriate personal documentation can cause a variety of problems for stateless populations in the UAE, exacerbating the overall inability to enjoy basic rights such as, for instance, preventing a person from opening a bank account.33 3 Citizenship stripping as a political tool NGOs have noted at the occasion of the 4th cycle of the UAE’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2023, that the Emirati citizenship is a revocable and precarious status for those who express dissent, regardless of whether they are naturalised or born with a right to Emirati citizenship. The relative ease with which citizenship can be stripped threatens a wide range of citizens’ and citizenship applicants’ human rights, by stifling political expression and dissent.34 In fact, there has been a rise in the trend of stripping individuals of their nationality, which almost always results in statelessness in the UAE. It is widely believed that these measures are being taken to punish and exclude human Jake Benhabib, The Saga of Statelessness in Dubai, 9 May 2018, https://buslahr.medium.com/thesaga-of-statelessness-in-dubai-b90020a8543c, (accessed on 1 May 2024). 30 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Concluding observations on the fourth periodic report of the United Arab Emirates, UN Doc. CEDAW/C/ARE/CO/4, 12 July 2022, para. 40, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CEDAW%2FC %2FARE%2FCO%2F4&Lang=fr (accessed on 1 May 2024). 31 Ibid, para. 41. 32 Human Rights Council, Summary of stakeholders’ submissions on the United Arab Emirates: Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Doc. A/HRC/WG.6/43/ARE/3, para. 44. 33 UNHCR, The situation of stateless persons in the Middle East and North Africa, October 2010, p.22, https://www.refworld.org/reference/research/unhcr/2010/en/76679 (accessed on 1 May 2024). 34 Human Rights Council, Summary of stakeholders’ submissions on the United Arab Emirates: Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 6 February 2023, UN Doc. A/HRC/WG.6/43/ARE/3, para. 62. 29 11 Citizenship stripping in the UAE