to citizenship and statelessness, by Austria to “repeal legislation that causes Malawian women to lose their citizenship when marrying a foreign national” and by Brazil to “consider revising its national legislation in order to prevent situations of statelessness”, both of which it noted. 7. During the second cycle, Malawi received eight recommendations on gender discrimination in nationality laws, statelessness and birth registration as follows: I. Algeria: “continue efforts in the area of gender equality, in particular regarding acquisition, loss and transfer of nationality”; II. Austria: “allocate financial and human resources to the implementation of the Gender Equality Act and amend all laws that discriminate against women, in particular the Citizen Act”; III. Canada: “amend sections 9 and 16 of the Citizenship Act to ensure that nationality provisions are applied equally to men and women”; IV. Kenya: “take steps to fully harmonize the nationality law to provide women the right to acquire, change or retain their nationality, on an equal basis with men, in line with the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women”; V. Germany: “withdraw all reservations to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol and accede to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness”; VI. Mexico: “ensure the proper registration of all new-borns in order to ensure recognition of their legal personality”; VII. Namibia: “take all necessary measures to protect and promote the right of children, including their right to acquire a nationality and to be registered at birth, combat child marriages and finalize the implementation of the national plan of action for vulnerable children for the period 2014-2018”; and, VIII. Portugal: “bring legislation governing the acquisition, retention or transfer of citizenship in line with article 9 of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, by removing any remaining discrimination”. 8. Malawi accepted seven of these recommendations. The only recommendation it did not accept was the German recommendation, which it noted. Malawi’s International obligations 9. Malawi is acceded to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons in 2009, but has not acceded to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Malawi has international obligations to protect the right to a nationality and protect the rights of stateless persons on the basis of other UN and regional treaties to which it is a party. These include, among others, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR - article 24.3), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural 2