AHMR African Human Mobilty Review - Volume 8 No 3, SEP-DEC 2022 have difficulty in proving property ownership or economic self-sufficiency.43 Some countries require the spouse to sponsor nationality acquisition. This practice can leave women vulnerable to control by their spouse, which could have serious consequences in situations involving domestic violence.44 If there is a gap in nationality status, women, and potentially their children, may be left in a situation where no state considers them to be nationals and therefore become temporarily stateless, resulting in restrictions on movement, as well as barriers in accessing services and legal protection.45 Moreover, ‘situations of statelessness following marriage to a foreigner and naturalization requirements … can lead to women being dependent on men economically, socially, culturally and linguistically and, in turn, expose women to an increased risk of exploitation’.46 Thus, it appears likely that women who are caught in-between nationalities due to marriage and relocation are increasingly vulnerable to abuse and intimate partner violence.47 A major barrier to proving nationality, for both women and their children, is the global challenge in ensuring birth certificate registration. Both the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) recognise a child’s right to have their birth registered as a basic human right.48 The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), under Target 16.9, recognise the importance of ensuring legal identity for everyone, including birth registration.49 Without birth certificates, individuals cannot prove their identity and their nationality, leaving them vulnerable to statelessness.50 This is a major cause of vulnerability to statelessness in Southern Africa, where less than 50% of births are registered.51 In some countries, it is much lower; such as in Zambia, where only 10% of births are registered.52 To varying degrees in different countries, there are many barriers to accessing birth registration and obtaining a birth certificate. Barriers include bureaucratic and procedural obstacles, lack of knowledge about or access to services, high costs, and discrimination against certain groups, including women. Some countries do not permit women to register the births of their children. For example, in Eswatini, the relevant law requires the father to register the birth of a child.53 Only if he is dead, absent, or unable to register the birth is another person, such as the mother, permitted to register the birth. In other countries, such as Zambia, gender discrimination in administrative and customary procedures can Alice Edwards ‘Displacement, statelessness, and questions of gender equality and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women’ Legal and Protection Policy Research Series No. 14 UNHCR (2009) at 61. 45 CEDAW GR 32 op cit note 6 para 57. 46 Ibid. 47 Edwards op cit note 44 at 61. 48 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), 1989 1577 UNTS 3, Article 7; African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC), OAU Doc. CAB/LEG/24.9/49 (1990), Article 6(2). 49 UN ‘Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ (2015), available at www.sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld, accessed on 12 May 2022. 50 Laura van Waas Nationality Matters: Statelessness in International Law 2 ed (2008) at 155. 51 UNHCR ‘Statelessness Update: Southern Africa’ (September, 2020) at 5. 52 Ibid. 53 Eswatini Births, Deaths and Marriages Act 18 of 1983. 54 Mitte op cit note 2. 44 24