NUMBER OF COUNTRIES WITH SEX DISCRIMINATORY NATIONALITY LAWS The Americas 6 Asia & the Pacific 17 9 Sub-Saharan Africa GLOBAL CAMPAIGN FOR EQUAL NATIONALITY RIGHTS The Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights (GCENR) was established in 2014 by Equality Now, Equal Rights Trust, the Institute for Statelessness and Inclusion, the Office of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Women’s Refugee Commission*, dedicated to the eradication of gender discrimination in nationality laws worldwide. GCENR has undertaken substantial outreach and engagement at the international, regional, and national levels, to raise the visibility of the need to ensure equal nationality rights and the serious costs of gender discrimination in nationality laws to both affected persons and their families and society as a whole. Some of its achievements include: • • 17 Middle East & North Africa SUB SAHARAN AFRICA MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA ASIA & THE PACIFIC Central African Republic Congo (Republic Of) Eswatini Madagascar Malawi Nigeria Sierra Leone Somalia Tanzania Benin Burundi Cameroon Comoros Mauritania Togo Mauritius Liberia Bahrain Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Qatar Saudi Arabia Syrian Arab Republic United Arab Emirates Yemen Iran Iraq Oman Egypt Libya Morocco Tunisia Sudan Bangladesh Brunei Kiribati Malaysia Nepal Pakistan Philippines Singapore Thailand the reform of Madagascar’s nationality law, enshrining women’s right to confer nationality on children at birth on an equal basis with men, which took effect in January 2017 just over a year after GCENR’s first national workshop with government and civil society; Sierra Leone’s amendment of its Citizenship Act in June 2017, which now guarantees women and men the equal right to confer nationality on children; • the United States Supreme Court in 2017 struck down one of the provisions that denied unmarried fathers the right to pass citizenship to their children on an equal basis with mothers; and • following concerted advocacy for a new Human Rights Council Resolution on women’s equal nationality rights, Resolution 32/7 passed with 107 co-sponsors in June 2016.8 In addition, since 2017, the Global Campaign has, amongst many other activities: • organized an unprecedented convening hosted by the League of Arab States, and co-sponsored by UN Women, UNICEF, UNHCR, focused on advancing women’s equal nationality rights, which resulted in the Arab Declaration on Belonging and Identity; 9 • mobilized policy makers and civil society in Togo and Malaysia to support the elimination of gender discrimination in those countries’ nationality laws, resulting in the drafting of a new Togolese Nationality code that eliminates discrimination and presently awaits passage by parliament, and a robust movement for equal nationality rights in Malaysia that continues to build momentum; • heightened international attention to the issue through a series of events including with senior government officials such as: - a High Level Event on achieving gender-equal nationality laws on the sidelines of the 2020 UN General Assembly, with Ministers of Justice from Togo and Eswatini presenting their country’s commitment to achieve gender-equal nationality laws, joined by the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, UN Women’s Deputy Executive Director, and a Nepali formerly stateless youth activist; and - a High Level Side Event at the 2018 Commission on the Status of Women, which included cabinet ministers from Morocco and Sierra Leone, who emphasized the benefits of those countries’ reforms and the Executive Director of UN Women; and a High Level Event at the United Nations High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, which resulted in a joint statement by the Global Campaign, UNHCR, UNICEF, and UN Women on the urgent need for reform of gender-discriminatory nationality laws. *current Steering Committee members also include Family Frontiers, Nationality For A ll, and Women’s Learning Partnership THE AMERICAS The Bahamas Barbados Guatemala Saint Lucia Saint Vincent & the Grenadines United States of America 8 As a follow up to Resolution 32/7, Global Campaign, the Permanent Mission of the African Union and the Permanent Missions of Algeria and Madagascar convened a briefing on the need for gender equal nationality rights in Africa with AU members at the UN in Geneva. 9 This ground-breaking declaration calls on all Arab League members to uphold gender-equal nationality rights and enact reforms as necessary; remove reservations to CEDAW Article 9; and establish national government focal points and plans of action to implement the Declaration. THE STATE WE’RE IN: ENDING SEXISM IN NATIONALITY LAWS - 2022 EDITION | 9