PART 1 - STAGE 1: PREPARATION Africa Nationality laws in six countries in Africa do not provide mothers equal rights as fathers to confer their nationality on their children, leading to a risk of statelessness for such children. Under the 1962 Citizenship Law of Somalia, Somali mothers have no ability to confer their nationality to their children. Eswatini’s Constitution stipulates that children born after 2005 can only acquire nationality from their Swazi fathers, unless the child was born out of wedlock and has not been claimed by the father in accordance with customary law, in which case the Swazi mother can pass on her nationality. In addition, Eswatini’s 1992 Citizenship Act contains the same provisions, applicable to children born after 1992. States with constitutional guarantees of equality that have not yet reformed nationality laws to introduce gender equality Four African States – Burundi, Liberia, Sudan, and Togo – have enshrined the principle of gender equality in recent constitutions but have yet to reform the relevant provisions of their nationality laws. In principle, constitutional provisions prevail over the nationality law in each State. However, because nationality laws tend to be more specific and practice-oriented, administrative authorities may be more likely to apply the older provisions of these laws rather than look to constitutional guarantees of gender equality. For example, in Burundi, the 2000 Nationality Code does not allow Burundian mothers to confer nationality to their children except when maternal filiation is established in situations where they are born out of wedlock to unknown fathers or disowned by their fathers. This is at variance with Article 12 of Burundi’s 2005 Constitution, which guarantees Burundian men and women equality in nationality matters. U N H C R > B A C K G R O U N D N O T E O N G E N D E R E Q U A L I T Y, N AT I O N A L I T Y L A W S A N D S TAT E L E S S N E S S 2 0 2 0 9