Children currently and formerly affected by statelessness because of gender discrimination JinΦ was born in Brunei Darussalam to a Malaysian mother and stateless father, who was also born in Brunei. Though Malaysian men have the right to confer nationality on children born within a legal marriage regardless of the child’s place of birth, Malaysian women are denied the same right. Due to gender discrimination in Malaysia’s law, in combination with his father’s stateless status, Jin is also stateless. Lacking citizenship, Jin faces a range of hardships including obstacles to assessing medical care, educational opportunities, property rights and freedom of movement. “To be honest, I feel hopeless. I feel hopelessness and powerlessness. I feel discriminated. I feel depressed. I used to have a small hope that this would be solved in the near future…” – Jin, child of Malaysian mother and father who is a stateless permanent resident of Brunei Darussalam 10 G E N D E R D I S C R I M I N AT I O N A N D C H I L D H O O D S TAT E L E S S N E S S