10 Actions to End Statelessness Action 4: PREVENT DENIAL, LOSS OR DEPRIVATION OF NATIONALITY ON DISCRIMINATORY GROUNDS STARTING POINT MILESTONES GOAL BY 2024 • At least 20 States have nationality laws which permit denial, loss or deprivation of nationality on discriminatory grounds. By 2017: • • By 2020: At least 4 States reform their nationality laws to remove provisions which permit denial, loss or deprivation of nationality on discriminatory grounds. At least an additional 8 States (12 in total since 2014) reform their nationality laws to remove provisions which permit denial, loss or deprivation of nationality on discriminatory grounds. No States have nationality laws which permit denial, loss or deprivation of nationality on discriminatory grounds. CONTEXT Discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, race, religion, language or disability is a recurrent cause of statelessness. In fact, the majority of the world’s known stateless populations belong to minority groups. Instances of denial, loss and deprivation of nationality on discriminatory grounds leading to statelessness continue to occur in a range of countries. These include situations of mass deprivation of nationality on the grounds of ethnicity or race during recent decades. In some instances, the individuals and groups affected have crossed international borders and have become refugees. Given its particular impact, statelessness arising from gender discrimination is dealt with under Action 3. 16 • UNHCR > HOW CAN THIS ACTION BE IMPLEMENTED? This Action requires that State authorities refrain from denying or depriving people of nationality on discriminatory grounds such as ethnicity, race, religion, language or disability. To ensure this, States can introduce non-discriminatory provisions in their Constitutions and nationality laws. There needs to be adequate supervision of compliance with such provisions, including through complaints mechanisms, the possibility of judicial review and restitution of nationality. G LO B A L AC T I O N P L A N TO E N D S TAT E L E S S N E S S : 2 0 1 4 – 2 0 2 4