women to confer nationality on their children born abroad, thereby granting women equal rights as men to confer nationality to children. Previously, such children could acquire Malaysian nationality only at the Federal Government’s discretion through registration before the age of 21 at a Malaysian consulate or the National Registration Department in Malaysia. However, the amendment is not retroactive and therefore does not address the situation of individuals born outside of Malaysia to Malaysian women before the amendment enters into force. The bill also includes a number of regressive amendments, such as the removal of automatic acquisition of citizenship for children born to permanent residents and the reduction of the age limit for applying for discretionary citizenship from 21 to 18 years - a pathway to nationality that has been used by stateless persons. The constitutional reform will take effect upon receiving royal assent and publication in the Gazette, which, as of March 2026, has not yet occurred. In Oman, Royal Decree No. 17/2025 replaced Royal Decree No. 38/2014 in 2025, easing naturalization conditions for children of Omani mothers and foreign fathers. Both laws restrict eligibility to cases where the mother is widowed, divorced, or abandoned by the foreign father. Previously, a ten-year waiting period applied in all cases. The new law reduces this to five years in case the mother was widowed or got divorced but keeps it at ten in case of abandonment. Similarly, the residency requirement, previously ten years, is now five for children of widowed or divorced mothers, while remaining ten for those abandoned. Although nationality laws can be complex, ensuring gender equality often requires relatively simple amendments. This can be seen in the example of Kenya’s constitutional reform in 2010. Under the prior Kenyan Constitution of 1969, Kenyan mothers and fathers could confer Kenyan nationality on their children born in Kenya on an equal basis, but only Kenyan fathers could confer nationality on children born abroad. The 2010 Constitution of Kenya addressed this, using the following formulation: A person is a citizen by birth if on the day of the person’s birth, whether or not the person is born in Kenya, either the mother or father of the person is a citizen. Most recent developments (March 2025-February 2026) In Malaysia, although the constitutional amendment passed in December 2024 does not have retroactive effect in the law itself, a 2025 High Court judicial settlement allows children born abroad to Malaysian mothers before the 2024 Constitutional amendment to apply for citizenship under Article 15(2) of the Constitution, which provides for automatic acquisition for applicants who meet the criteria set out in that Article. Previously, such children had to apply under Article 15(A), under which the acquisition of nationality is subject to government discretion. In Nepal, the Citizenship Act was amended in September 2025 to ease the process for women to confer citizenship on children in cases where the father is unidentified or untraceable. Under this amendment, a self-declaration by the mother as to the father being unidentified or untraceable suffices. Prior to this reform, the mother was required to provide supporting evidence. 8 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 6