A/HRC/23/23 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 20/4, the Human Rights Council invited the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to prepare, in consultation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice, States and other relevant stakeholders, a report on discrimination against women in nationality-related matters. The present report is submitted pursuant to that request. The Council requested that the report include an analysis of the impact on children and best practices by States and other measures that eliminate nationality discrimination against women and avoid or reduce statelessness. 2. The comments and advice of UNHCR and the Working Group on discrimination against women in law and in practice and the contributions of States, international and nongovernmental organizations are gratefully acknowledged.1 3. The right to a nationality is a fundamental human right that also has an impact on the enjoyment of other human rights. In an increasingly globalized world, persons without a nationality find themselves in an extremely vulnerable situation. Despite the fact that the right to a nationality is guaranteed under various human rights treaties, discrimination in nationality-related matters persists in many countries. Although each State has the power to determine who its nationals are according to its law, the boundaries of this discretion are found in international human rights guarantees, which are legally binding upon States. 4. An individual nationality may be determined by descent from a national or by being born within the State’s territory. Most States have combined these two principles in their laws on nationality. Historically, these two principles have favoured the nationality of the father: the father’s descent line was prioritized and a woman was traditionally more likely to move to her husband’s State. Nationality may also be acquired by naturalization and through marriage. 5. It was widely accepted at the beginning of the twentieth century that nationality was governed by the principle of “dependent nationality” or “unity of nationality of family”. This principle is based on the idea that a family should have the same nationality owing to concerns of divided loyalty and on the patriarchal notion that the nationality of the entire family should follow that of the husband.2 This principle is still reflected in discriminatory nationality laws in force in different regions of the world. 6. International law on women’s nationality rights began to develop in the 1930s within the framework of the League of Nations. Initially, the approach to women’s nationality regarded the problem as one of statelessness and dual nationality caused by conflicts among the nationality laws of different States rather than on the basis of gender equality. Progressively, the focus shifted to women’s right to equality, and various regional and international human rights instruments were adopted. The adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in 1979 was a turning point, as it was 1 2 All contributions for the present report are available on the OHCHR website at www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/women/. See International Law Association Committee on Feminism and International Law, Final Report on Women’s Equality and Nationality in International Law, London, 2000, p. 17; Marsha A. Freeman, Christine Chinkin and Beate Rudolf, The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women: a Commentary, Oxford Commentaries on International Law, 2012, p. 234. 3