A/78/256 nationality or acquire proof of nationality for his children; or (e) where a father has been unwilling to fulfil such administrative steps. 10 C. Gender-discriminatory laws as a form of gender-based violence 14. Gender-based violence reinforces gender-discriminatory nationality laws, on the one hand, and statelessness, on the other. Statelessness and gender-discriminatory laws are tantamount to violence against women, as defined in the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women contained in General Assembly resolution 48/104, and constitute a violation of multiple human rights, resulting in the physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering of women and girls, as well as seriously impairing and nullifying their fundamental rights and freedoms. 11 Taken as a whole, the overlapping, widespread and systematic impact of gender-discriminatory laws can also amount to torture, given the severity of the pain and suffering that certain practices inflict on affected women and girls and the long-term impact on their physical and psychological well-being, including the ability to enjoy all human rights (see A/HRC/31/57). In many respects, gender-discriminatory nationality laws institutionalize and codify violence against women and girls. VI. Overview of gender discriminatory nationality laws 15. There are generally two modes of acquiring nationality at birth: jus soli (citizenship by place of birth), which provides for the acquisition of nationality on the basis of birth in the territory of a State, and jus sanguinis (citizenship by descent), which provides for the acquisition of the nationality of one or both parents. Many States have adopted a combination of these systems. 12 Even where there are exceptions to a general rule of jus soli, women may not benefit from them; moreover, existing gaps in the law and in relevant by-laws and instructions can still lead to or increase the risk of statelessness, while contributing to violence against women and girls. 16. For example, the Constitution of Iraq of 2005 establishes gender equality in relation to nationality by providing that a child’s nationality is acquired by descent from nationals of either sex. The country’s Nationality Act of 2006 also allows for equal rights of parents to transfer their nationality. Despite it being a relatively progressive nationality law in the Middle East, the Act still limits the ability of women to confer their nationality on children born outside Iraq. For su ch births, the child may only apply for Iraqi nationality within one year of coming of age, provided that the child’s father is unknown or stateless and the child is residing in Iraq at the time of the application. In addition, under article 5 of the Act, the conferral of nationality to children born in Iraq to a non-Iraqi father is at the discretion of the Minister of the Interior, who may allow conferral if the father was also born in Iraq, had come of age and had been habitually residing in Iraq at the time of the child’s birth. No such provision exists with regard to women in similar situations. 13 __________________ 10 11 12 13 23-14780 UNHCR, “Background note on gender equality, nationality laws and statelessness 2023”, pp. 2 and 3. Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights, “Ending gender-based violence requires equal citizenship: the impact of gender discrimination in nationality laws on gender -based violence”, September 2020. Radha Govil and Alice Edwards, “Women, nationality and statelessness: the problem of unequal rights”, pp. 173 and 175. Iraq, Nationality Act, No. 26 (2006). 7/23