in September 2021, the Malaysian High Court upheld Article 8 of the Malaysian Federal Constitution which does not permit gender discrimination in any law against Malaysian citizens by giving Malaysian women the same right as men to transmit their nationality to their children born overseas.12 In November 2021, the Government of Malaysia established a committee to study amendments needed to address gender-unequal provisions related to nationality in the Federal Constitution. At the High-Level Segment on Statelessness on 7 October 2019, two States, Liberia and Eswatini, pledged to resolve issues of gender discrimination in their respective nationality laws before the end of the #IBelong Campaign in 2024.13 UNHCR is supporting both Governments to make the necessary amendments to deliver on these pledges by 2024. In December 2021, at the High-Level Official’s meeting, Burundi pledged to adopt a national action plan to eradicate statelessness, which presents an opportunity to reform sex discrimination in its nationality and other related laws. Unequal 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) allow women to confer nationality in some circumstances (for example, some make exceptions for mothers to confer nationality if the father is unknown or stateless and some establish a discretionary procedure for conferral of nationality upon application). The laws of the third group of countries (yellow) also limit the conferral of nationality by women but additional guarantees ensure that statelessness will rarely arise. 12 As at 8 March 2022, this court decision is under appeal by the Government of Malaysia, see Suriani Kembpe & 6 others -v- Government of Malaysia & Ors [2021] 8 CLJ 666 13 An additional four States made pledges concerning gender discrimination that are outside the scope of this survey. 6 U N H C R > B A C K G R O U N D N O T E O N G E N D E R E Q U A L I T Y, N AT I O N A L I T Y L A W S A N D S TAT E L E S S N E S S 2 0 2 2