BACKGROUND NOTE ON GENDER EQUALITY, NATIONALITY LAWS AND STATELESSNESS 2018 Uneven ability of women to confer nationality on their children The table below uses a color scheme to divide the laws of the 25 States into three categories. The laws of the first group of countries (red) have nationality laws which do not allow mothers to confer their nationality on their children with no, or very limited, exceptions– these laws create the greatest risk of statelessness. The laws of the second group of countries (orange) have some safeguards against the creation of statelessness (for example making exceptions for mothers to confer nationality if the father is unknown or stateless). The laws of the third group of countries (yellow) also limit the conferral of nationality by women but additional guarantees ensure that statelessness will only arise in very few circumstances. Bahamas Malaysia Bahrain Mauritania Barbados Nepal Brunei Darussalam Oman Burundi Qatar Iran Saudi Arabia Iraq Somalia Jordan Sudan Kiribati Swaziland Kuwait Syria Lebanon Togo Liberia United Arab Emirates Libya 6 UNHCR | 8 March 2018