Grounds of Discrimination Age Overt age discrimination in nationality laws is rare. Libya’s nationality laws appear to provide an example of express age discrimination as they prohibit application for naturalization by anyone over 50 years old.48 In effect, however, many common provisions of naturalization laws turn on age as a practical matter. One example is lengthy residency requirements. This restriction, by definition, excludes anyone under a certain age and likely anyone whose period of eligible residency begins after they have reached a certain age. Examples of countries with lengthy residency requirements include Andorra, Bhutan and Uganda, where 20 to 30 years of residence can be required to apply for naturalization. Other provisions, such as requirements that an applicant for naturalization contribute to society or be self-reliant, can effectively bar persons over retirement age. In these cases, disability discrimination and age discrimination often coincide. The likelihood that someone has a disability that inhibits their ability to be self-reliant may increase with age, and depending on the specificities of a State’s laws, may disqualify those who lack family members or other connections with the financial resources to sponsor their application. In these situations, the individual’s right to a nationality is made contingent on the presence of family members with financial means and, often, resident or citizen status in the country in question. While age-of-majority requirements are a basic feature of most States’ laws, they can present an issue when a minor’s parent or guardian is ineligible for naturalization, such as when the parents are stateless or when they are minors themselves. Although children are most often naturalized as derivatives of adult applicants, children of parents who are ineligible for naturalization may be at risk of childhood statelessness due to the bar against their naturalization until they reach the age of majority. Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Gender Expression, Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) The link between statelessness and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, and sex characteristics has yet to be fully explored as the visibility of these issues remains inconsistent around the world. Consensual same-sex acts are criminalized in 70 UN Member States, 68 of which have laws explicitly criminalizing consensual same-sex acts, and 2 of which prosecute such acts indirectly using other legal provisions.49 In those States, lesbian, gay, bisexual, 48 Law Number (24) for 2010/1378 On The Libyan Nationality [Libya], 28 May 2010, section 9, available at: https://www.refworld. org/docid/4e2d8bf52.html. 49 Lucan Ramón Mendos, “State-Sponsered Homophobia”, 2019, International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, p. 15, available at: https://ilga.org/downloads/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2019_light.pdf; Transgender persons are also frequently targeted based on laws criminalizing consensual same-sex conduct, as well as laws that criminalize persons based on their gender expression; see United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR), Born Free and Equal: Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Sex Characteristics in International Human Rights Law, 2019, Chapter 3, available at: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/Born_Free_and_Equal_ 12 U N H C R > B AC KG R O U N D N OT E O N D I S C R I M I N AT I O N I N N AT I O N A L I T Y L AW S A N D S TAT E L E S S N E S S