Example from Tunisia—Judicial procedure to establish nationality The Government of Tunisia allows any child to return to Tunisia as long as the mother is established as a Tunisian and the accompanying child is hers. If the child does not have any documentation to prove his or her birth, the mother or the public prosecutor on behalf of the child files a civil case to establish nationality and civil status through the civil registration. DNA testing may be used to establish the child’s nationality; however, it has to be done under the supervision of the judiciary to ensure the best interests of the child. 2.1.4 Human Rights Considerations Corresponding to National Laws That Are Discriminatory in Granting Nationality 97. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women obligates States parties to ensure that women have equal rights with men to confer nationality on Nationality laws that their children.178 discriminate against mothers in the conferral of nationality may result in a child being stateless in situations when the father is either stateless, unable to confer citizenship because the child was born abroad, unknown or not married to the mother at the time of the child’s birth.179 A father’s inability to fulfil the administrative steps need- 178 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979), art. 9(2). Many States Parties maintain a reservation to article 9(2); Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 32 (2014), para. 61. 179 Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 32 (2014), para. 61. ed to confer his nationality or acquire proof of nationality for his child also leaves the child without nationality unless the mother can Such risks are confer nationality.180 particularly high when the child’s father is affiliated with a terrorist organization, as many men were killed in combat or captured and forcibly separated from their family.181 Nationality laws that are discriminatory and increase the risk of statelessness in those circumstances should be revised to ensure the right of children to obtain nationality without discrimination, regardless of the status or activities of their parents.182 98. If the identification of the father is required or if the parents must be married to register a child’s birth and confer nationality, women may be reluctant or unable to obtain a child’s birth certificate for various reasons, leaving the child stateless. If a woman cannot present proof that she is married to the child’s father, or alternatively, if the marriage certificate is not acceptable because it was issued by a terrorist organization, a child may be rendered stateless.183 Some women fear the stigmatization of having married or being forced to marry a member of a terrorist organization, and thus they do not feel secure enough to come forward. Many women whose children were born of rape do not seek to register their children for fear of stigmatization. This is especially so 180 UNHCR, Background Note on Gender Equality, Nationality Laws and Statelessness (2019), available at www. refworld.org/docid/5c8120847.html. 181 Ibid. 182 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Background Note for expert workshop on best practices to promote women’s equal nationality rights in law and in practice (2017), available at www.ohchr.org/EN/ Issues/Women/WRGS/Pages/ExpertWorkshopNationalityRightsLawinPractice.aspx, para. 2.1(1). 183 Ibid. 45.