The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights & Equality Now Joint Submission to the Human Rights Council at the 36th Session of the Universal Periodic Review Liberia Introduction 1. The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI), the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights, and Equality Now make this joint submission to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), on the right to a nationality and human rights challenges pertaining to statelessness in Liberia. 2. This submission focuses on gender discrimination in nationality laws, specifically, discriminatory provisions in the Aliens and Nationality Law of 1973 which deny Liberian women the right to confer nationality on children born abroad, a right reserved for men. 3. ISI1 is an independent non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting an integrated, human rights-based response to the injustice of statelessness and exclusion. Established in August 2014, it is the first and only global centre committed to promoting the human rights of stateless persons and ending statelessness. The Institute has made over 50 country specific UPR submissions on the human rights of stateless persons, and also compiled summaries of the key human rights challenges related to statelessness in all countries under review under the 23rd to the 35th UPR Sessions. 4. The Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights mobilizes international action for the removal of gender-discriminatory provisions from all nationality laws, through its coalition of national, regional and international organizations and activists, including steering committee members Equality Now, Equal Rights Trust, the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, UNHCR, Women’s Learning Partnership and Women’s Refugee Commission. 5. Equality Now is an international human rights organisation with ECOSOC status working to protect and promote the rights of all women and girls worldwide since 1992, including through our membership network comprised of individuals and organisations in over 190 countries. In 2014, Equality Now made a submission on Liberia for the 22nd Session of the UPR. In 2016, Equality Now published an updated comprehensive advocacy report, The State We’re In: Ending Sexism in Nationality Laws (available at www.equalitynow.org). 1 For more information about the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, see: www.institutesi.org. 1