In Antsahabe, Madagascar, a stateless individual shares their experiences and challenges caused by living without access to documentation and reflects on the exclusion that forces him to live on the edges of society. © UNHCR/Graham Pote ACTION 4: Prevent denial, loss or deprivation of nationality on ethnic, racial, religious, political and other discriminatory grounds DESIRED OUTCOME • • No States have nationality laws that permit denial, loss or deprivation of nationality on discriminatory grounds. Non-discriminatory nationality laws are effectively implemented. Context Discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, race, religion, language or disability is a recurrent cause of statelessness. In fact, the majority of the world’s known stateless populations belong to minority groups. Instances of statelessness due to the denial, loss and deprivation of nationality on discriminatory grounds continue to occur in a range of countries. These include situations of mass deprivation of nationality on the grounds of ethnicity or race during recent decades. In some instances, the individuals and groups affected have crossed international borders and become refugees. Given its particular impact, statelessness arising from gender discrimination is dealt with under Action 3. What needs to be done? This Action requires that State authorities refrain from denying people nationality, or depriving them of it, on discriminatory grounds such as ethnicity, race, 20 religion, language or disability. To ensure that this does not happen, States can introduce non-discriminatory provisions in their Constitutions and nationality laws. GLOBAL ACTION PLAN TO END STATELESSNESS 2.0