Syria Art 21 (e,g) Art 21 (b,c) Art 21 (d) Art 21 (f) – Art 32 (1,2) Art 16 (1) Art 18 (d) and 19 (d) Tunisia – Art 32 – UAE Art 16 (4) Art 15 (a) Art 15 (b) Yemen Art 18 (b) Art 19 (a,b,c) – Art 20 – Art 33 (3) – Failure of Military Obligation (Art 33 (4)) Art 16 (2) Art 16 (3) – Art 18 (a) Art 18 (c) – The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has long been characterized by complex and restrictive citizenship laws that contribute significantly to the phenomenon of statelessness. These laws, which are shaped by factors such as state succession, demographic control, and security concerns, often result in marginalized populations being denied access to nationality. While many countries in MENA have ratified key international human rights treaties, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the implementation of these treaties often falls short in practice. This gap between international commitments and domestic policies raises critical questions about the political motives and structural barriers that perpetuate statelessness in the region. For instance, Egypt’s constitution guarantees the freedom of citizenship without religious discrimination, while Iraq and Yemen affirm that no citizen can be deprived of nationality on any grounds. However, despite these constitutional guarantees, the practical application of citizenship laws remains restrictive. Many countries, including Bahrain and Lebanon, have entrenched principles of equality and non-discrimination in their constitutions, which have been leveraged by civil society to advocate for reforms, such as granting women the right to pass on nationality to their children. Despite these advances, significant legal and societal hurdles persist in many MENA states, hindering progress toward gender equality in citizenship laws. The introduction of constitutional amendments in Qatar and other countries is a step forward, but the issue remains far from resolved, particularly in areas where traditional gender roles are deeply entrenched. One of the primary causes of statelessness in MENA is restrictive naturalization policies, which vary widely across the region. In many MENA countries, naturalization remains an arduous and often impossible process, marked by prolonged residence requirements (sometimes up to 20 years), stringent qualifications, and quotas that limit the number of naturalizations allowed each year. Some countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, impose additional criteria, including religious and cultural restrictions, which further complicate the naturalization process for nonMuslim or minority applicants. This approach is particularly problematic in countries with high numbers of stateless individuals, where the lack of pathways to naturalization contributes to the perpetuation of statelessness. Furthermore, many MENA countries maintain strong control over the loss and revocation of citizenship, with a broad range of reasons for citizenship revocation, including acts that endanger state security, allegiance to foreign states, or the commission of crimes against the state. These regulations often fail to include safeguards against statelessness, meaning that individuals deprived of their citizenship may find themselves without a country to claim as their own. While Lebanon has a relatively narrower set of grounds for revocation, including service to a foreign state or threats to state security, the overall trend in the region is towards a policy that exacerbates statelessness, rather than mitigating it. One of the most critical examples of this issue is the situation of Palestinian refugees and their descendants. The political dynamics surrounding the Palestinian cause have led to ISSN 2776-1266 (print), 2776-1266 (online) Copyright © 2026, Journal of Public Representative and Society Provision Under the license CC BY-SA 4.0 | 193