2011] AN INTERNATIONAL LAW OF CITIZENSHIP 713 of nationality without her consent.124 The 1933 Montevideo Convention on Nationality adopted full sex equality with respect to nationality practice, and many states (in the Americas and elsewhere) implemented the principle.125 The 1957 Convention on the Nationality of Married Women eliminated automatic changes in a woman’s nationality by cause of marriage or a change in a husband’s nationality.126 Relative to other nationality conventions, the 1957 accord was widely adopted, with seventy-four parties and twenty-nine additional signatory states.127 It has been superseded by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Article 9 of which mandates that men and women have equal rights to acquire, change, and retain their nationalities, with specific preclusion of automatic changes in nationality triggered by the nationality of the husband.128 The Convention also curtails the formerly wide practice of discriminating against women for purposes of jus sanguinis, under which citizenship would descend on a patrilineal basis only.129 Even so, sex-discriminatory nationality practices have remained sticky into the twenty-first century, with many states reserving from Article 9130 or otherwise disadvantaging women.131 To the extent that norms against such discrimination began to suggest an effective constraint on state practice, the regime was clearly situated in a women’s rights frame. The driver was an 124 Hague Convention on Nationality, supra note 16, Art. 10; see also INTERNATIONAL LAW ASSOCIATION COMMITTEE ON FEMINISM AND INTERNATIONAL LAW, FINAL REPORT ON WOMEN’S EQUALITY AND NATIONALITY IN INTERNATIONAL LAW 29 (2000) [hereinafter ILA REPORT]. 125 Organization of American States, Convention on the Nationality of Women, Art. 1, Dec. 26, 1933, OASTS No. 4, 49 Stat. 2957, 2960 (1936) (“There shall be no distinction based on sex as regards nationality, in their legislation or in their practice.”). 126 Convention on the Nationality of Married Women, Art. 1, Feb. 20, 1957, 309 UNTS 65. 127 See 2 Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General, ch. XVI, UN Doc. ST/LEG/SER.E/25, at http://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/MTDSG/Volume%20II/Chapter%20XVI/XVI-2.en.pdf. 128 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Art. 9, Dec. 18, 1979, 1249 UNTS 13, 19 ILM 33 (1980). Article 9 provides: 1. States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men to acquire, change or retain their nationality. They shall ensure in particular that neither marriage to an alien nor change of nationality by the husband during marriage shall automatically change the nationality of the wife, render her stateless or force upon her the nationality of the husband. 2. States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men with respect to the nationality of their children. 129 See id.; see also SHACHAR, supra note 2, at 153–54. See ILA REPORT, supra note 124, at 8, 39 – 40. At least twenty states have attached reservations to Article 9, including France, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and a number of Middle Eastern states. See 1 Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General, ch. IV.8, UN Doc. ST/LEG/SER.E/25, at http://treaties.un.org/doc/ Publication/MTDSG/Volume%20I/Chapter%20IV/IV-8.en.pdf; see also Karen Knop & Christine Chinkin, Remembering Chrystal Macmillan: Women’s Equality and Nationality in International Law, 22 MICH. J. INT’L L. 523, 573 (2001) (“The progress represented by article 9 of the Women’s Convention is hampered by the large number of reservations, made by a range of states, to all or part of that article.”). In recent years, some states, including Egypt, South Korea, and Thailand, have withdrawn reservations to Article 9. See id. 131 Reports of the human rights treaty bodies are replete with examples. See, e.g., CERD, Concluding Observations: Egypt, para. 288, UN Doc. A/56/18 (2001) (expressing concern over gender discriminatory jus sanguinis regime); Human Rights Committee, Concluding Observations: Monaco, para. 84(10), UN Doc. A/56/40 (2001) (same); Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, Concluding Observations: Venezuela, para. 239, UN Doc. A/52/38/Rev. 1 (1997) (expressing concern that Venezuelan men have the right to confer nationality on foreign wives, a right not afforded to Venezuelan women and their foreign husbands); see also, MANBY, STRUGGLES FOR CITIZENSHIP IN AFRICA, supra note 5, at 23 (noting that “a majority of African countries still do not allow women to pass citizenship to both their husbands and children on an equal basis with men”). In a much more limited number of cases, citizenship laws discriminate against men. See, e.g., Nguyen v. INS, 533 U.S. 53 (2001) (upholding nationality provision discriminating against child born out of wedlock to citizen fathers relative to citizen mothers). 130 This content downloaded from 82.196.111.31 on Thu, 07 Oct 2021 15:20:30 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms