Many countries do not extend nationality to Palestinians or persons from Western Sahara, rendering many Palestinians and Sahrawis that reside in those countries stateless unless they have acquired nationality in another country (ibid., 121-122, 130-131).20 As of 2019, women in 25 countries cannot confer nationality on their children. Statelessness also results from nationality and citizenship laws outside of the context of state succession. In some cases, nationality is withdrawn or denied based on ethnicity, religion, language, or other characteristics. This is the case for the Rohingya of Myanmar, the Kurds in Syria in the 1960s, and Black Mauritanians in the 1980s (ISI 2014). As of 2019, women in 25 countries cannot confer nationality on their children (UNHCR 2019). This can lead to statelessness for children born to a native-born mother and a foreign father, particularly if the father is stateless. Some countries also require that a child’s father and mother be married in order to confer the father’s citizenship to a child, resulting in the statelessness of children born out of wedlock (UNHCR and OSJI 2012). In some countries, foreign-born women lose their citizenship upon the dissolution of their marriage, sometimes rendering them and their children stateless. In these and other circumstances, statelessness can be inherited. “A mother can’t pass her citizenship down to her children, only a father could. [My] father is stateless. He is considered Bidoon. His children as soon as they’re born, they’re Bidoon. They don’t get rights, they don’t get anything like Kuwaiti citizens. [When I approached the embassy to obtain a passport], they told me that since[(my] father is not a Kuwaiti citizen, then [I] cannot apply for the passport. I try to argue that my mother is a Kuwaiti citizen, and they’re like no, you have to follow your father.” Stateless woman born in Kuwait Statelessness can also result from gaps in nationality laws, conflicts in citizenship laws, and individual oversight or error. Individuals may lose their nationality if they reside abroad for a period without registering with their Embassy or Consulate (UNHCR and OSJI 2012; Price 2013). “I was born in the Soviet Union, so I was recognized as a citizen of the Soviet Union, but ... I found out years later that Uzbekistan never officially recognized me as a citizen because I didn’t register with Uzbekistan after it had become independent, which I was supposed to apparently. I didn’t know that.” Stateless woman born in former Soviet Union Article 7(1) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child stipulates that each child be “registered immediately after birth and shall have … the right to acquire a nationality.”21 For persons who “have difficulties furnishing relevant proof of nationality,” the “most important proof … relates 20 The situation of Palestinians is complicated by the issues of Palestinian nationality policy, the diversity of persons sharing “a common heritage and attachment to Palestine,�� the nationality policies of states where Palestinians reside, and the mandate of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) which “covers some but not all Palestinians,” both stateless Palestinians and those who have acquired nationality (ISI 2014, 127-132). 21 Convention on the Rights of the Child, Nov. 20, 1989, 1577 U.N.T.S. 3. 10