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who did not qualify for citizenship under the then current
Citizenship law and who therefore “may not be protected against
racial discrimination in their exercise of rights under Articles
5(d)(i) and (ii) and 5(e) of the Convention.”164
The Committee has in some instances made more focused
recommendations in relation to discriminatory denial of
nationality, pointing to particular reform measures that are
“urged” or “requested.” For example, in relation to Kenya, the
Committee recommended in 2011 that Kenya make “necessary
amendments to its legislation and administrative procedures in
order to implement the new constitutional provisions on
citizenship.”165 In relation to Jordan’s gendered nationality laws,
the Committee recommended in 2012 that the state party “review
and amend the Jordanian Nationality Act (Law No. 7 of 1954) in
order to ensure that a Jordanian mother married to a nonJordanian man has the right to confer her nationality to her
children equally and without discrimination.” 166 And again in
2017, drawing more explicitly on General Recommendation
Thirty, the Committee requested that the state party “amend the
Jordanian Nationality Act . . . to eliminate provisions that
discriminate against non-Arab spouses of Jordanian citizens.”167
When the Committee utilizes stronger or more forceful
language it tends to be in relation to deprivation or withdrawal
of citizenship.168 In 2007, for example, the Committee stressed
with respect to Turkmenistan that “deprivation of citizenship on
the basis of national or ethnic origin is a breach of the obligation
to ensure non-discriminatory enjoyment of the right to
nationality,” and “urge[d] the State party to refrain from
Syria, ¶ 10, U.N. Doc. CERD/C/304/Add.70 (July 7, 1999) (“The Committee is
concerned about Syrian-born Kurds, who are considered either as foreigners or
as maktoumeen (unregistered) by the Syrian authorities and who face
administrative and practical difficulties in acquiring Syrian nationality,
although they have no other nationality by birth.”).
164 See also Comm. on Elimination Racial Discrimination, Concluding
Observations on Iraq, ¶ 17, U.N. Doc. CERD/C/IRQ/CO/15-21 (Sept. 22, 2014)
(using slightly stronger language).
165 Comm.
on Elimination Racial Discrimination, Concluding
Observations on Kenya, ¶ 21, U.N. Doc. CERD/C/KEN/CO/1-4 (Sept. 14, 2011).
166 Comm.
on Elimination Racial Discrimination, Concluding
Observations on Jordan, ¶ 11, U.N. Doc. CERD/C/JOR/CO/13-17 (Apr. 4, 2012).
167 Comm.
on Elimination Racial Discrimination, Concluding
Observations on Jordan, ¶ 23, U.N. Doc. CERD/C/JOR/CO/18-20 (Dec. 26, 2017).
168 See Hoornick, supra note 156. Our analysis revealed that the
Committee discussed deprivation of nationality in relation to ten countries
within the period under examination (being Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya,
Kyrgyzstan, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Sudan, and Turkmenistan).