Universal Periodic Review recommendations on gender-equal nationality laws The issue of gender discrimination in nationality laws has received significant attention in recent years through the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a process that regularly reviews the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States. From 2008 to 2025 (up to the 49th session), at least 209 Recommendations were made calling for the removal of gender discriminatory provisions in nationality laws that prevent mothers from conferring nationality on their children.3 Among the States that received these Recommendations, Iran, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Monaco, Sierra Leone, Suriname, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have since reformed their nationality laws to allow mothers to confer nationality on their children. Of the total number of Recommendations on this issue, 192 were directed at the 24 countries where women who are nationals at birth cannot confer nationality on their biological children. Of these, 28% of Recommendations were supported, meaning that the States concerned committed to implementing them. These include: the Bahamas (8), Bahrain (12), Barbados (6), Brunei Darussalam (1), Iran (1), Iraq (1), Kiribati (2), Lebanon (2), Libya (5), Nepal (1), Oman (2), Qatar (1), Saudi Arabia (7), Syria (4) and Togo (1). Law reforms and other developments since 2000 There is growing willingness and commitment by States to take action toward achieving gender equality in nationality laws. In many instances, discriminatory provisions in nationality laws were ‘inherited’ by newly independent States from former colonial powers, and have remained unchanged for decades. However, in recent years, various countries have undertaken reforms to allow mothers to confer nationality on their children on an equal basis with fathers, including Sri Lanka (2003), Egypt (2004), Algeria (2005), Indonesia (2006), Morocco (2007), Bangladesh (2009), Kenya (2010), Tunisia (2010), Yemen (2010), Monaco (2005, 2011), Senegal (2013), Suriname (2014), Madagascar (2017),4 Sierra Leone (2006, 2017), and Liberia (2022). In addition, a few countries have in recent years partially reformed their nationality laws to 3 The analysis was conducted using the Universal Human Rights Index of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (available at: https://uhri.ohchr.org/en/search-human-rights-recommendations). The query covered the period from the beginning of 2008 to the 49th session in 2025. However, it may not have captured all relevant recommendations. 4 The law reform in Madagascar addressed only the ability of mothers to confer nationality on their biological children; women can still not confer nationality on adopted children. 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 6