A/HRC/23/23 have a negative impact on their human rights. These laws also perpetuate statelessness where they prevent a stateless husband from acquiring his wife’s nationality. 23. Indirect discrimination in the implementation of nationality laws also threatens women’s right to equality. Very often, identical naturalization procedures for women and men may actually discriminate against women in practice.11 Where non-national women have lesser opportunities to learn the local language and culture (for instance because of domestic responsibilities limiting their interaction with the community), standard tests for the acquisition of nationality may put them at a disadvantage. Naturalization criteria requiring economic self-sufficiency or adequate housing may also be more difficult for women to meet, especially if they are female-headed households with little income or are financially dependent on their spouses. 24. When women are unable to document their nationality, they can be at risk of statelessness; for instance, women may lack access to the documentation necessary to prove or claim their nationality, such as passports, identity cards or birth or marriage certificates. Their birth may not have been registered owing to laws and practices discriminating against and excluding girls, in particular girls from poor families, minority and foreigner communities or with disabilities. 12 Their marriage may not have been registered either owing to the lack of the husband’s consent, lack of awareness or any other reason. In certain circumstances, such as in cases of trafficking or situations of violence and abuse, women’s documentation may have been deliberately appropriated or destroyed as a means of control. In some countries, discriminatory practices, such as requirements of third-party male authorization to obtain nationality documents, further affect women’s enjoyment of their right to nationality.13 25. Women living in poverty, women with disabilities, older women, migrant women or women belonging to racial or ethnic minorities, facing sometimes multiple forms of discrimination, bear additional administrative, financial and other burdens when claiming their right to nationality. 26. Restrictions on retention of dual nationality also have the potential to discriminate against women in practice. Where dual nationality is not allowed, women can be disproportionately affected, as they tend to reside in their husband’s country. If dual nationality is forbidden, they will have to decide between retaining their nationality or acquiring that of their husband’s. If they do not take on the nationality of their husband, they will not be able to enjoy fully their political, civil, economic and social rights in their husband’s country. They will be especially vulnerable to abuse because of the inherent powerlessness of their position. If they lose their nationality of origin upon acquiring the nationality of their spouses, they risk statelessness in the event that the marriage ends by death or divorce, and may be cut off from the enjoyment of a range of human rights in their country of origin. They may also become stateless by “administrative delay” pending the granting of new nationality.14 11 12 13 14 International Law Association, Final Report on Women’s Equality (see footnote 2), p. 20. Under the Radar and Under Protected: The Urgent Need to Address Stateless Children’s Rights, UNHCR and Plan, 2012 (available from http://plan-international.org/birthregistration/files/under-theradar-english), p. 12. See also the contributions of the International Disability Alliance and Movimiento Sociocultural para los Trabajadores Haitianos. Contribution of Human Rights Watch. UNHCR, Displacement, Statelessness and Questions of Gender Equality under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Legal and Protection Policy Research Series, Geneva, 2009 (available from www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4a8aa8bd2.html), p. 43. 7