2019 alone AFCF recorded 582 rapes and 1,213 instances of domestic violence (physical, psychological and economic). 33. Disabled women face additional intersectional discrimination and stigmatisation. Disabled women often have difficulty getting married, are often abused by relatives, and at an increased risk of rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence. 34. The Personal Status Code, established in 2001, requires amendment to enshrine the equal rights and protection of women. For example, women are not permitted to register their children, only fathers, as described below. Similarly, the political participation law, which mandates the 20% quota, needs improvement in terms of mechanisms for monitoring and implementation to realize the actual participation of women. The penal code also requires revision to be harmonized with international conventions in order to effectively advance the protection of Mauritanian women and girls. 35. Mauritania committed before the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) (2004), to use the standard index "Index of Development and Inequalities Sexes in Africa" (IDISA) to help countries measure the gap between the conditions of men and women in Africa and assess progress made. Following its participation in the expert meeting to examine the regional draft report on IDISA – a meeting organised by the UN ECA African Centre for Gender in Addis Ababa – Mauritania committed, through the Ministry Social Affairs, Childhood and Family (MASEF), to prepare its 2018 report (IDISA) with the technical and financial support of ECA. MASEF has put in place the necessary mechanism for monitoring the completion of this report and has recruited a consultant to calculate the indices that make up the IDISA and prepare the report. To date, Mauritanian civil society has no information on this report, including whether it has been published or not. 36. Discrimination is multi-dimensional and affects all aspects of human life, including education, social life, health and employment. In January 2018, the State promulgated a law against discrimination. However, the law’s limited scope and dubious definitions exposes human rights defenders to state abuse. The government denies many of the issues of prime concern to human rights defenders – issues omitted from the law on discrimination. Therefore, when such issues are raised by civil society, the state accuses human rights defenders of harming social cohesion and national unity. Though 2019 witnessed a massive demonstration in Nouakchott – organised with support of the Head of State - to condemn and eliminate the law on discrimination following the State’s review by the Human Rights Committee, human rights defenders felt threatened by the State. 37. The above overview shows that gender discrimination in Mauritania is pervasive, and not restricted to the issue of nationality laws. All of these issues are interconnected and ultimately demonstrate that the systemic unequal treatment of women, in addition to the harmful and negative impact on women and girls, also has a wider negative and harmful impact on society. Birth registration and the risk of statelessness 38. Birth registration is fundamental to the protection of children and prevention of statelessness. As birth registration legally establishes the place of birth, proof of age, and parental affiliation, it serves as important documentary proof to acquire the parents' nationality or the nationality of the State in which the child is born. It also provides children with protection. 8