Nationality and Cases of Statelessness in the Middle East and North Africa common. The first of these is knowledge of the national language, which is in most cases Arabic. This requirement is about demonstrating “belonging” to the state, in the sense of an affinity to its population and their culture. The exact formulation of this condition varies somewhat from one state to another, with some requiring fluency (e.g. Egypt and Jordan) and others being satisfied when the applicant can demonstrate “sufficient knowledge” (e.g. Syria and Mauritania). The further three most common criteria relate not to connectedness nor belonging, but to the desired qualities or expected behaviour of a wouldbe national: they relate to the applicant’s social, economic and physical attributes. Thus, the applicant is often required to be of “good character” and/or have a clean criminal record, have sufficient income to sustain him or herself (or, in Bahrain, a similar intent is expressed as ownership of real estate) and be in a state of good mental and/or physical health. This last condition appears problematic in some instances, such that it may violate international norms relating to the rights of persons with disabilities. Article 18 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities establishes that persons with disabilities are to enjoy, on an equal basis with others, the right to acquire and change a nationality. Yet, in Syria for example, a person who has “any diseases or 100