Nationality and Cases of Statelessness in the Middle East and North Africa
territorial connections, it is worth pointing out that
neither of the provisions concerned explicitly requires
the father to speak Arabic or be a Muslim, but rather
it is sufficient that he is from a country where this is the
norm.
It is, furthermore, of interest to note that birth on
state territory generates an entitlement to facilitated
naturalisation under a number of MENA nationality
laws. Egypt, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia and Yemen all
provide for different conditions to be met by someone
born in the country who is seeking to naturalise,
as opposed to someone who has immigrated
subsequently.114
3.1.3. Safeguards for otherwise stateless children
States are, in principle, free to set the conditions
for acquisition of nationality, including by choosing
whether to grant nationality at birth on the basis of
the jus sanguinis or jus soli doctrine, or a mixture of the
two.115 However, international law sets certain limits to
this freedom, including where it provides that every
child has the right to acquire a nationality. The child’s
right to a nationality is recognised in several major
114 - See Table 8.
115 - Article 1 of the 1930 Hague Convention on Certain Questions relating to
the Conflict of Nationality Laws.
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