Introduction Introduction The use of citizenship laws to reinforce certain social hierarchies and distinctions was once common and widespread. For example, European colonial powers instituted racially discriminatory citizenship systems in parts of Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and the Pacific. These approaches had a lasting impact on the national legal systems that emerged after independence.4 In many countries, sex discrimination that was common in European nationality laws found its way into the laws of newly independent nations, while in some countries new nationality laws were drafted specifically to try to exclude former colonizers from eligibility for citizenship in the newly independent States. Discrimination in citizenship laws may be direct or indirect. Direct discrimination occurs when a person is treated less favorably than another person is, has been, or would be treated in a comparable situation on the basis of one or more protected grounds; or when a person is subjected to a detriment on the basis of one or more grounds of discrimination. Indirect discrimination occurs when a provision, criterion or practice has or would have a disproportionate, negative impact on persons having a status or a characteristic associated with one or more grounds of discrimination. While this background note focuses primarily on direct discrimination, reference is made to indirect discrimination in the context of disability and SOGIESC discrimination. The note covers discrimination in the acquisition of citizenship and discrimination in naturalization. It does not however cover discrimination in the context of deprivation of nationality. While discrimination in the acquisition of citizenship at birth is generally a more significant cause of statelessness, discrimination in naturalization procedures can also lead to new instances of statelessness and prevent governments from resolving existing situations of statelessness.5 The acquisition of citizenship at birth is generally based on the principles of jus soli (nationality by birth on the territory) and jus sanguinis (nationality by descent). Most countries’ nationality laws involve a combination of these two principles. Acquisition of citizenship later in life is often realized through naturalization or similar procedures. Though grounds for eligibility vary, marriage to a citizen and length of residence in the country are typical factors that governments consider in the review of naturalization applications. Although most discriminatory provisions found in nationality laws apply to naturalization rather than citizenship by birth, these areas are often interconnected. For some populations, discriminatory provisions and practices cause statelessness at birth and then preclude them from resolving their situation through naturalization later in life. As with laws regarding the acquisition of citizenship at birth, conditions surrounding 4 5 4 Fitzgerald, “The History of Racialized Citizenship” in Ayelet Shachar et al. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Citizenship, 2017, Oxford University Press, p. 134. Facilitated naturalization is part of Action 6 of the UNHCR Global Action Plan to End Statelessness by 2024. See UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Global Action Plan to End Statelessness, 4 November 2014, at 16, available at: https:// www.refworld.org/docid/545b47d64.html. For a list of countries that have pledged to take action in this regard, see UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), High-Level Segment on Statelessness: Results and Highlights, May 2020, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5ec3e91b4.html. 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