Formerly stateless lawyer fighting for the rights of stateless people, Neha Gurung. © UNHCR/Susan Hopper ACTION 3: Remove gender discrimination from nationality laws DESIRED OUTCOME • • • All States have nationality laws that treat women and men equally with regard to conferral of nationality on their children. All States have nationality laws that treat women and men equally as regards acquiring, changing and retaining nationality. All States that had made reservations to Article 9 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) have lifted their reservations. Context Gender discrimination in nationality laws can have farreaching consequences on all aspects of family life. When women are unable to pass on their nationality to their children because of discriminatory laws, if the children are also unable to acquire nationality from their father then they are rendered stateless.26 This can happen where the father is stateless, unknown, or unable or unwilling to complete administrative requirements to confer his nationality or to obtain documentation to prove the nationality of the child. Such laws are in breach of Article 9(2) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. States that deny women equal rights to men to acquire, change or retain nationality are in breach of Article 9(1) of that Convention. 26 For more information, see UNHCR, “Background note on gender equality, nationality laws and statelessness 2024”, 8 March 2024, https:// www.refworld.org/reference/themreport/unhcr/2024/en/147696. UNHCR publishes an updated version of this document every March. 18 GLOBAL ACTION PLAN TO END STATELESSNESS 2.0