AHMR African Human Mobilty Review - Volume 8 No 3, SEP-DEC 2022 child and request a birth certificate, while single mothers can register their children directly.148 (e) The gap between law and practice The developments discussed in this section focus primarily on legal reforms and developments at the regional level and national levels to address gender discriminatory nationality laws. However, as the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights concludes, in reference to nationality-related protections in relevant regional human rights treaties, … these new provisions have only had a very limited impact on the continent, notably due to the fact that the treaties are not systematically transposed into the national legal systems of the States parties and are not often invoked in national or regional courts by individuals whose rights to nationality are contested or denied.149 In short, the gap between law and practice remains significant. Further, while the law reform examples cited here reflect important progress, there appears to be far less attention to the indirect forms of gender discrimination that can function as drivers increasing the risks of statelessness for women. For example, as a leading cause of statelessness in the region, the lack of birth registration and access to identity documentation — essential to proving nationality — poses significant problems. As Manby notes, ‘civil registration and identification systems are key to recognition of nationality’, although these systems remain weak in the region owing largely to colonial legacies.150 This issue has strong gender dimensions, as women often face greater challenges in accessing identity documentation, birth registration, and accessing and navigating bureaucratic processes.151 For example, in its recent concluding observations on South Africa, the CEDAW Committee noted its concern that many women, especially in rural areas and informal settlements, ‘face challenges in accessing birth registration and identity documents, depriving them of access to basic services’.152 The Committee also pointed to the lack of safeguards in the birth registration laws to prevent children of undocumented women from becoming stateless.153 In both Mozambique and Madagascar, there is a noticeable gap between the higher proportion of men who have identity documentation, as compared to the lower rates involving women.154 In the context of Zambia, where only 10% of births are registered, the UNHCR points to the impact of gender discrimination even ACHPR ‘The Right to a Nationality in Africa’ (2015) at 7. Bronwen Manby ‘Citizenship and statelessness in the member states of the Southern African Development Community’ UNHCR (2020) at 1. 151 See Mbiyozo op cit note 1 at 7. 152 CEDAW Committee ‘Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of South Africa’ (2021) UN Doc CEDAW/C/ZAF/CO/5 at para 41. 153 Ibid. 154 Manby op cit note 150 at 72. 155 Mitte op cit note 2. 149 150 38