Law reform to date There is a growing willingness and commitment by States to take action to achieve gender equality in nationality laws. In many instances, discriminatory elements of previous nationality laws were ‘inherited’ by new States shortly after gaining independence from former colonial powers. In some cases, these nationality laws have not been reviewed since. In recent years, reform has been undertaken in countries as diverse as Sri Lanka (2003), Egypt (2004), Algeria (2005), Indonesia (2006), Iraq (partial reform in 2006), Sierra Leone (partial reform in 2006), Morocco (2007), Bangladesh (2009), Zimbabwe (2009), Kenya (2010), Tunisia (remaining gaps addressed in 2010), Yemen (2010), Monaco (2005, 2011), Senegal (2013), Suriname (2014) and Madagascar (2017). In many cases, law reform was achieved by simply extending to women the right to confer nationality to their children which had been previously only been granted to men. Although nationality laws can be complex, reforms to incorporate gender equality can often be achieved through relatively simple changes to the formulation of relevant provisions. This can be seen in the recent reform of the Constitution of Kenya in 2010. Under the prior Kenyan Constitution of 1969, Kenyan mothers and fathers could confer Kenyan nationality on their children born in Kenya on an equal basis, but only Kenyan fathers could confer nationality on children born abroad. The 2010 Constitution of Kenya addressed this, using the following formulation: A person is a citizen by birth if on the day of the person’s birth, whether or not the person is born in Kenya, either the mother or father of the person is a citizen. At the ministerial meeting convened by UNHCR in December 2011 to commemorate the respective 60 th and 50th anniversaries of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, the Governments of Liberia, and Senegal pledged to address inequality in nationality matters through law reform. Senegal amended its nationality law in 2013, thereby implementing its pledge. The amended law sets out in clear terms that: A direct descendant to a Senegalese national is Senegalese. In February 2015, under the Abidjan Declaration of Economic Community of West African States on Eradication of Statelessness, ECOWAS Member States committed to ensuring that women and men have equal rights to confer nationality to their children. In January 2017, Madagascar became the first country since the launch of UNHCR’s #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness in 10 years to reform its nationality law to allow Malagasy mothers to confer their nationality to their children on an equal basis as men. Although the reform does not permit Malagasy women to confer their nationality to their non-national spouses (as Malagasy men can), it does allow both spouses and children to retain their nationality, if a partner or a parent loses theirs. Other States have recently initiated discussions to reform their nationality laws or for changes to laws and regulations to alleviate the impact on children and families of unequal nationality legislation. For example, in Sierra Leone, a Constitutional Review Committee is currently reviewing the 1991 Constitution and has proposed a gender neutral provision for acquisition of nationality by children born to a national of Sierra Leone. A review of the Alien and Nationality Law in Liberia is also underway to bring it in line with the Liberian Constitution, which provides for equality between women and men in their ability to confer their nationality to their children. In Somalia, once enacted, a newly drafted Citizenship Bill will abolish discriminatory provisions and, inter alia, permit Somali women to confer nationality to their children on an equal basis as Somali men. The parliaments of Bahrain and Kuwait are currently examining NGO proposals to review their respective nationality laws and consider reforms that would allow women to confer citizenship to their children at birth. UNHCR’s recently launched #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness in 10 years, envisages the achievement of gender equality in all nationality laws by the year 2024 as part of the Campaign’s broader goals, and sets out a practical strategy through which this can be achieved in Action 3 of the Global Action Plan. UNHCR continues its works with a range of other governments and civil society groups to promote reform to nationality laws and assist in their implementation.