10 Proposed Select Draft Articles on Nationality Rights to Ensure Gender Equality Article on the guarantee of equality and non-discrimination a. The acquisition, change, retention, conferral, loss and reacquisition of nationality shall be governed by principles of equality and non-discrimination on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, or any other personal characteristic. b. All laws and regulations pertaining to nationality inconsistent with guarantees of equality and nondiscrimination shall be amended or repealed. Article on nationality at birth in the territory, foundlings prevention of statelessness a. Every person born within the territory of [name of State] who would otherwise be stateless shall acquire nationality at birth. b. Foundlings will be presumed to be citizens of [name of State] unless proven otherwise. Note: This proposed Draft Article enshrines the principle of equality and non-discrimination to ensure that all individuals have equal nationality rights regardless of their personal characteristics or socio-economic status. This is especially important for States which currently discriminate on the basis of sex and/or other grounds in their nationality laws, or in which there is a discretionary process through which persons may acquire or change their nationality status. Note: This proposed Draft Article ensures that children born or found within the State are not stateless. In countries with the 20 largest stateless populations, at least 70,000 stateless children are born every year. Statelessness puts children at particular risk of multiple rights deprivations and a lifetime of discrimination due to a lack of legal personhood. Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), among others, guarantees children “the right to acquire a nationality” from birth, and calls upon State Parties to ensure “implementation of these rights in accordance with their national law and their obligations under the relevant international instruments in this field, in particular where the child could otherwise be stateless.” This should include developing detailed regulatory procedures to prevent statelessness. The Committee on the Rights of the Child, the treaty body which monitors implementation of the CRC, has stressed that this right must be implemented in a way that ensures the best interests of the child.