Another major cause of statelessness relates to the dissolution and separation of States, disputes about borders, transfer of territory between States, and the creation of new States. In the period of decolonization, groups of persons may have been left out of the initial body of citizens under the nationality legislation of the newly independent State. In Europe, many people were left stateless after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In addition to or underlying the aforementioned causes of statelessness, discrimination in nationality law or in practice against certain parts of the population and arbitrary deprivation of nationality contribute significantly to the creation or perpetuation of statelessness. Based on, for example, ethnicity or religious beliefs, a certain group within a State or populations living across multiple States are sometimes denied or deprived of nationality. Examples of such populations are the Rohingya in Myanmar, the Bidoon in the Arab Gulf States, and parts of the Roma population in Europe. Discrimination on the ground of gender can also be a cause of statelessness. In some nationality laws, women are not able to pass their nationality on to their children. Moreover, women may lose their nationality upon marriage or upon dissolution of the marriage. Women’s inability to transmit their nationality to their children is especially problematic in cases where children are born out of wedlock or where the father is unknown, has passed away, has left, is stateless or is a foreigner who is unable to transmit his own nationality or unwilling to take the necessary administrative steps to do so. Today, 27 States still discriminate against women in their laws with regard to transmission of nationality to children, the majority of which can be found in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.15 Further, laws that discriminate against children born out of wedlock, for example by making it more difficult for them to acquire their father’s nationality, can also contribute to statelessness. 1.1.3 Consequences of statelessness Most stateless persons encounter many difficulties in every aspect of daily life. Often, stateless persons do not enjoy their basic human rights. Even though the enjoyment of fundamental human rights is not formally dependent on citizenship status, many States extend human rights protection to their nationals only or to persons who reside lawfully in the country, which is not always the case of stateless persons. Stateless persons may face obstacles accessing education or health care services, entering the labour market, travelling abroad, or owning land or other property. Stateless persons may not be able to register the birth of their child, obtain an identity document, open a bank account, inherit wealth, or get legally married. Being socially and economically excluded, stateless persons are vulnerable to abuse and destitution, and many stateless populations belong to the most marginalized and vulnerable groups worldwide. Also, stateless persons may be detained for prolonged or repeated periods because they have no identity documents or because they are considered to be irregularly in the country, yet there is no country to which they can be returned. 15 10 UNHCR, Background Note on Gender Equality, Nationality Laws and Statelessness 2014, 8 March 2014, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/532075964.html. M A P P I N G S TAT E L E S S N E S S I N S W E D E N