Background Note on Gender
Equality, Nationality Laws and
Statelessness 2020
Cover photo: Georgia is a Liberian citizen. Her children were born in Nigeria to a
Nigerian father who passed away. Their births were never registered in Nigeria
and thus, they were never able to establish their entitlement to Nigerian
citizenship. Now, living in Liberia, Georgia’s children are stateless and unable to
obtain nationality documents since local laws prohibit her from passing on her
citizenship to them. Liberia is one of 25 countries that maintain such provisions,
and is currently revising its nationality law, which may eventually allow Georgia
to attain citizenship for her children. © Diana Diaz
UNHCR
P.O. Box 2500
1211 Geneva 2
Switzerland