CChapter 3: Comparative analysis of nationality laws are “from an Arab country”,174 which arguably does not raise a suggestion of ethnic bias. This would seem to be a more appropriate way to formulate an entitlement to facilitated naturalisation under the law. Meanwhile, it is important to flag here that the absence of nationality rules that directly discriminate on the grounds of race or ethnicity has not spared the region, in practice, from the problem of racially motivated nationality policies. An obvious example of such problems is the long-standing and largely continuing exclusion of many Kurds from nationality in Syria.175 This and other situations of arbitrary deprivation and denial of nationality have led to the region being so heavily blighted by statelessness. Again, an analysis of the letter of the nationality law, while important to understand how a country’s policy is framed and what opportunities a person has to enjoy a nationality, offers an incomplete picture of the manner in which nationality is actually – or has historically been – attributed in practice. The third form of discrimination that was noted in the analysis of MENA’s nationality laws is that grounded on religion. Islam is the predominant faith in the region and has the status of official religion in many 174 - For example, Articles 5 and 6, UAE Federal Law No. 17 Concerning Nationality and Passports, 1972. 175 - See Z. Albarazi, The Stateless Syrians, May 2013. 133