The Impact of Gender Discrimination on Statelessness recognises that ‘the right to a nationality is a fundamental condition for the protection and effective exercise of the full range of other human rights’; affirms that statelessness violates ‘the right to human dignity and to legal status enshrined in article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights’; and articulates the political will to eradicate statelessness in Africa through ensuring that all residents of African states have a nationality, through the harmonisation of nationality laws and the prohibition of arbitrary deprivation or denial of nationality.133 Article 3 of the AU Draft Protocol on Nationality affirms general principles including that ‘every person has the right to a nationality’; that ‘no one shall be arbitrarily deprived or denied recognition of his or her nationality nor denied the right to change his or her nationality’; and that ‘States have the obligation to act, both alone and in cooperation with each other, to eradicate statelessness’. Article 4(1) of the AU Draft Protocol on Nationality regarding non-discrimination provides for a prohibition on the inclusion of distinctions, exclusions, restrictions, or provisions promoting differential treatment, which are based on a number of grounds including race, ethnic group, colour, and sex. Article 4(2) provides that states parties ‘shall grant women and men equal rights to acquire, change or retain their nationality and with respect to the nationality of their children’. However, there is an exception to the nondiscrimination prohibition in article 4(3) that allows for a state party to reserve the right to make distinctions among its nationals, if at the time of signature, ratification or accession it reserves its retention of such right. Article 6 provides for the possibility of the acquisition of a nationality, including the acquisition of nationality by the spouse of a national, consequently making it possible for women to acquire the nationality of their husbands, or vice versa. Article 9 on marriage provides further protection to spouses regarding their right to nationality in the context of marriage or upon the dissolution of such marriage. It states that a state party shall provide in law that ‘a marriage or the dissolution of a marriage between a national and a non-national shall not automatically change the nationality of either spouse nor affect the capacity of the national to transmit his or her nationality to his or her children’, and also, that ‘the change of nationality of one spouse during marriage shall not automatically affect the nationality of the other spouse or of the children’. Importantly, from an equality and non-discrimination perspective, article 13 of the AU Draft Protocol on Nationality provides for every person’s right to documentation that proves their nationality, with women and men having equal rights to obtain such documents and having the right to have them issued in their own names. Overall, the AU Draft Protocol on Nationality addresses some of the key gender discrimination issues impacting women’s nationality rights. As recognised in international human rights instruments discussed above, it prohibits direct discrimination by affirming women’s and men’s equal rights to nationality and to that of their children, and equal rights to retain or pass nationality to a spouse upon marriage. Importantly, given the impact of statelessness concerns arising from 134 See also discussion by Muller op cit note 123 at 143–144. 35