Article 2(3) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) provides: Developing countries, with due regard to human rights and their national economy, may determine to what extent they would guarantee the economic rights recognized in the present Covenant to nonnationals. Article 23 of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families also distinguishes between nationals and nonnationals:117 Migrant workers and members of their families shall have the right to have recourse to the protection and assistance of the consular or diplomatic authorities of their State of origin or of a State representing the interests of that State whenever the rights recognized in the present Convention are impaired. In particular, in case of expulsion, the person concerned shall be informed of this right without delay and the authorities of the expelling State shall facilitate the exercise of such right.118 Article 9 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women stipulates:119 1. States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men to acquire, change or retain their nationality. They shall ensure in particular that neither marriage to an alien nor change of nationality by the husband during marriage shall automatically change the nationality of the wife, render her stateless or force upon her the nationality of the husband. 2. States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men with respect to the nationality of their children. Article 1(2) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) provides: This Convention shall not apply to distinctions, exclusions, restrictions or preferences made by a State Party to this Convention between citizens and non-citizens. 117 118 119 conferral; it embraces, at the very least, an individual who, because of his or her special ties to or claims in relation to a given country, cannot be considered to be a mere alien. This would be the case, for example, of nationals of a country who have there been stripped of their nationality in violation of international law, and of individuals whose country of nationality has been incorporated in or transferred to another national entity, whose nationality is being denied them. The language of article 12, paragraph 4, moreover, permits a broader interpretation that might embrace other categories of long-term residents, including but not limited to stateless persons arbitrarily deprived of the right to acquire the nationality of the country of such residence. Since other factors may in certain circumstances result in the establishment of close and enduring connections between a person and a country, States parties should include in their reports information on the rights of permanent residents to return to their country of residence.” Note that, as stipulated in Article 3 of the Convention: “The present Convention shall not apply to: … (d) Refugees and stateless persons, unless such application is provided for in the relevant national legislation of, or international instruments in force for, the State Party concerned …” On the subject of an individual’s right to diplomatic and consular protection and assistance, see also La Grand case (Germany v. United States of America) I.C.J. Reports 2001, p. 466 at para.’s 76 - 77; Case concerning Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (Mexico v. United States of America) I.C.J. Reports 2004, p. 12 at para. 40; InterAmerican Court of Human Rights, “The Right to Information on Consular Assistance in the Framework of the Guarantees of the Due Process of Law”, Advisory Opinion OC-16/99, 1 October 1999. Note that Article 6 of the Convention provides that: “For the purposes of the present Convention: (a) The term ‘State of origin’ means the State of which the person concerned is a national”. See also the 1957 Convention on the Nationality of Married Women. 34