iii) Initiate legislative reforms that addresses any identified gaps or challenges, including any discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, or gender, thereby helping to prevent statelessness; iv) Ensure gender equality as regards the equal right of men and women to pass on their nationality to their children and spouses, and to change or retain their nationality; v) Expedite the implementation of Article 6 (4) of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, thereby preventing childhood statelessness; vi) Establish and maintain comprehensive birth registration and civil registration systems within Member States with a view to prevent statelessness; vii) Accede to the 1954 UN Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, the 1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the 1990 UN Convention on the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families; viii) Support the drafting, adoption and ratification of a Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Right to Nationality and the Eradication of Statelessness in Africa;” and ix) Work towards the development and adoption of a SADC Ministerial Declaration and Action Plan on Statelessness. ______________________ Page 4 of 4