EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM Gender discriminatory nationality laws may also under some circumstances qualify as persecution. For example, nationality law may prevent women from passing their nationality to their child, thus rendering in some instances a child stateless, for example when they are unable to acquire the nationality of their father because he is stateless or unknown. You should then consider the seriousness of the consequences of these discriminations on the child to assess whether their statelessness leads to a risk of persecution in case of return. Example of a measure that has the appearance of legality but is misused The withdrawal of nationality could be part of the judicial sentence for committing a crime, depending on the circumstances, such as the severity of the crime. However, based on relevant and up-to-date COI on the way justice is dispensed in that country for certain categories of the population, and based on the personal circumstances of the applicant, you may conclude that the sentence was disproportionately harsh and was likely primarily based on the ethnic origin of the applicant. You may also be aware of common practices of fabricated charges. In this case, the withdrawal of nationality may be used to silence the applicant rather than to impose a legitimate punishment. Despite its apparent legality, the measure may have been implemented in a way that aims at harming the applicant. When assessing whether a deprivation, denial or forced attribution of nationality would amount to persecution or serious harm, it is important to consider the reason the measure was used and how it was enforced. Note that the act may often take the form of a legal or administrative measure which is discriminatory in itself or which is implemented in an arbitrary or discriminatory manner. It may have the appearance of legality and it may be misused for the purpose of persecution or serious harm. 7.1.1. Deprivation of nationality as a form of persecution or serious harm Deprivation of nationality is permitted when it is carried out in conformity with domestic and international law (e.g. the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness ( 106) and the European Court of Human Rights) and complies with specific procedural and substantive standards. In particular, deprivation of nationality (and the domestic laws on which it is based) should comply with the principles of proportionality and non-discrimination of groups and should seek to minimise the creation of statelessness ( 107). Under the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, contracting states may not deprive a person of its nationality if such deprivation would render them stateless ( 108). Deprivation of nationality means the non-consensual loss of (106) UN General Assembly, Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 989, p. 175, 30 August 1961. (107) United Nations Human Rights Council, Human rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality, Report of the Secretary General, 14 December 2009, UN Doc A/HRC/13/34, paragraph 25. (108) See Article 8 of the UN General Assembly, Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 989, p. 175, 30 August 1961. 68