Among those states that continue to discriminate, the majority are in the Middle East. While there have been some courageous judges prepared to challenge these rules, they have often not had wider impact. For example, a landmark decision granting Lebanese nationality to the children of a Lebanese woman married to an Egyptian man, following the death of her husband, was overturned on appeal.240 It is significant, therefore, that in 2017 the Arab League adopted a declaration requesting member states “to put an end to all forms of discrimination in the area of nationality and to take concrete steps to amend laws and legislation relating to nationality in order to grant women and men equal rights in conferring nationality to children and spouses and to acquire, change or retain nationality in conformity with international standards and not contrary to national interests.”241 In 2018, a ministerial conference of the League adopted a further declaration on belonging and legal identity, calling on member states: [T]o enact legislations, and review and enforce their national laws on nationality, to ensure, without exception, that all children, including unaccompanied children are registered upon birth and are able to acquire a nationality, in particular by promoting laws enabling women to pass their nationalities to their children in compliance with the relevant international Conventions and Covenants.242 The legal recognition of the children of same-sex parents, and issue of identity documents recognising their nationality and the link to non-biological parents, has become a contested issue in those countries where same-sex relationships are not recognised.  In 2021, the CJEU ordered Bulgaria to issue an identity document to a child, based on a birth certificate issued by Spain in respect of a child of same-sex parents, and consider the child as a direct descendant of a European Union citizen to permit the exercise of rights of Union citizens, including free movement. A Member State could not rely on its national law as justification for refusing to draw up an identity card or passport.243 (The Bulgarian courts, however, declined to support the view that the child should be granted citizenship.244)  In 2022, the CJEU considered the impossibility of listing two same-sex parents on a birth certificate issued in Poland. There are conflicting decisions on the issue from the Polish courts.245 The Court stated that regardless of whether Polish law recognises same-sex couples and the possibility of their parenthood, the child of such a couple must be able to obtain an identity card or passport confirming nationality, thus enabling exercise of free movement rights within the EU, the protection of family life, and the best interests of the child. The CJEU decision triggered preparation of amendments to Polish law.246 See also the discussion on assisted reproduction cases u section 7.2 Children not born in the territory. Dalila Mahdawi, “The Case of Samira Soueidan” al-raida Issue 129 – 130, 2010 https://alraidajournal.lau.edu.lb/images/The%20Case%20of%20Samira%20 Soueidan.pdf; see also Lebanon: Citizenship Denied to Children of Lebanese Mothers, US Library of Congress, 24 May 2010, https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2010-05-24/lebanon-citizenship-denied-to-children-of-lebanese-mothers/. 240 The First Arab Conference on Good Practices & Regional Opportunities to Strengthen Women’s Nationality Rights League of Arab States Secretariat General, 1-2 October 2017: Final Declaration, https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a256c4a4.html. 241 Arab Declaration on Belonging and Legal Identity, League of Arab States, 28 February 2018, https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a9ffbd04.html. See also Arab Framework for the Rights of the Child, 2001 art. 15: “Children’s civil rights and citizenship rights must be guaranteed [including] the right to a name, an identity, a lineage and a nationality”. Annex to the letter dated 14 May 2001 from the Permanent Representative of Jordan to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General, UN Doc. A /55/942– S /2001/485, 15 May 2001, https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/441818). 242 243 Stolichna obshtina, rayon ‘Pancharevo’, Case C-490/20, Court of Justice of the European Union, Judgment of 14 December 2021, https://curia.europa.eu/juris/ documents.jsf?num=C-490/20. See also Patricia Cabral, “Protecting the Right to a Nationality for Children of Same-Sex Couples in the EU–A Key Issue Before the CJEU in V.M.A. v. Stolichna Obsthina (C-490/20)”, (blog post), European Network on Statelessness, 3 February 2021, https://www.statelessness.eu/updates/blog/protecting-right-nationality-children-same-sex-couples-eu-key-issue-cjeu-vma-v; David de Groot, ‘EU Law and the Mutual Recognition of Parenthood between Member States : The Case of V.M.A. v Stolichna Obshtina’ (Fiesole: European University Institute, 2021), https://cadmus.eui.eu/ handle/1814/69731. Krassen Nikolov, “Bulgaria denies citizenship to Spanish-born child with two mothers”, Euractive.com, 2 March 2023, https://www.euractiv.com/section/ politics/news/bulgaria-denies-citizenship-to-spanish-born-child-with-two-mothers/. 244 In one decision, the Polish Supreme Administrative Court stated that “it is not possible to enter in the Polish civil records instead of the child’s father a “parent” who is not a man, as such a transcription would be contrary to the fundamental principles of the Polish legal order.” Judgment in case II OPS 1/19, summary available at: https://caselaw.statelessness.eu/caselaw/poland-supreme-administrative-court-case-ii-ops-119. In a separate decision, the court stated that: “the authorities are obliged to transcribe civil status certificates of a Polish citizen, when: 1) he has a civil status record drawn up in Poland confirming a past event, and requests to confirm legality in the context of registration of a civil status, 2) is applying for a Polish identity document” case II OSK 2552/16, summary available at: https://caselaw.statelessness.eu/caselaw/poland-supreme-administrative-court-case-ii-osk-255216. 245 246 Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich v K.S. and Others, Case C-2/21, Court of Justice of the European Union, Order of the Court (Tenth Chamber) of 24 June 2022, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX:62021CO0002. A similar case was filed against Poland before the European Court of Human Rights in 2015, but no judgment had been issued at the time of publication of this Guide (A.D.-K. and Others against Poland, Application no. 30806/15 lodged on 16 June 2015, https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-192049). U N H C R | L I T I G AT I N G T H E R I G H T T O A N AT I O N A L I T Y: A G U I D E F O R P R AC T I T I O N E R S 65