and Peoples’ Right on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol). Liberia has also
ratified the Maputo Protocol, which calls on States Parties to eliminate gender
discrimination in law in Article 2, stating:
Article 2 (1): States Parties shall combat all forms of discrimination against women
through appropriate legislative, institutional and other measures.
…. d) take corrective and positive action in those areas where discrimination against
women in law and in fact continues to exist;
9. In addition and on the basis of the CEDAW, the Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women, in 2015, “noted the State party’s efforts to address
challenges relating to its nationality legislation”, but stated its concern “that the Aliens
and Nationality Law of 1973, which contradicts article 28 of the Constitution, remains in
force and continues to be applied, thereby preventing women from transmitting
Liberian nationality to their children if they are born outside the country”. It
recommended that Liberia:
“repeal [these provisions] in order to bring it into line with the Constitution and the
Convention, to ensure that, in accordance with article 9 of the Convention, Liberian
women who give birth to children outside the country can transmit their nationality to
their children on an equal basis with Liberian men whose children are born outside the
country”.
The Committee also recommended:
“that the State party ensure that children born to Liberian women married to nonLiberian men are not rendered stateless and have access to education, health care and
other basic services equal to that of other children”.2
10. The Human Rights Committee stated its concern in 2018 that
“a certain number of provisions of the Constitution and of statutory and customary
laws remain incompatible with the provisions of the Covenant, such as those
concerning […] acquisition of nationality, and at persistent discrepancies between
different sources of law, including those in relation to […] transmission of nationality
to children (art. 2)”.
It recommended that Liberia “should pursue the reform of the Refugee Act, notably by
incorporating provisions on stateless persons aimed at establishing an effective
statelessness determination procedure”. It also recommended that Liberia:
“should step up its efforts to achieve universal birth registration with a view to
guaranteeing children’s enjoyment of the Covenant rights and avoiding the risk of
becoming stateless”.3
2
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Concluding observations on the combined
seventh and eighth periodic reports of Liberia (2015), CEDAW/C/LBR/CO/7-8.
3 Human Rights Committee, Concluding observations on the initial report of Liberia (2018), CCPR/C/LBR/CO/1.
3