after they attain adulthood. Living your entire childhood as a stateless person is contrary to the principle of the best interests of the child, and can undermine the child’s access to various human rights including access to education and healthcare. Section 10 of the Citizenship Order – Application for registration of stateless persons as citizens of Lesotho: “10 (1) Application may be made to the Minister as in the appropriate form set out in the Second Schedule, for registration as a citizen of Lesotho by a person- (a) who has attained the age of eighteen years and who is stateless; and (b) who is lawfully sojourning in Lesotho and has been since the 4th day of October 1966, or since such earlier date as the Minister may order (and the Minister is hereby empowered so to order), been lawfully sojourning there for a period of three years immediately preceding the application; and (c) who has neither been convicted of an offence against the security of Lesotho nor been sentenced in any country to imprisonment for a term of five years or more in respect of a criminal offence that would if it had been committed in Lesotho, have been likewise punishable; and (d) who is willing to take the oath of allegiance; and (e) who intends, if his application is granted, to reside permanently in Lesotho or to establish his domicile of choice in Lesotho, subject to necessary absences from Lesotho in the course of his employment or self-employment. (2) This section shall apply to all persons born before as well as to persons born after the commencement of this order.” The discrimination against Mosotho women when passing on their citizenship to their spouses 24. Both the Constitution and the Citizenship Order discriminate against Mosotho women in not giving them the same right as Mosotho men to pass on their nationality to their spouses. This contravenes Lesotho’s domestic obligation in terms of the Constitution of Lesotho as well as its international obligation in terms of CEDAW. It also creates a risk of statelessness for a child in the event that the child’s mother passes away and the father is stateless or of unknown nationality, or is a foreigner who cannot pass on his nationality to his child. Article 40 of the Constitution – Marriage to Lesotho citizen: “(1) Any woman who immediately before the coming into operation of this Constitution, is or has been married to a person- (a) who continues to be a citizen of Lesotho by virtue of section 37 of this constitution; or (b) who having died before the coming into operation of this Constitution would, but for his death, have continued to be a citizen of Lesotho by virtue of that section, shall be entitled, upon making application and upon taking the oath of allegiance, to be registered as a citizen of Lesotho. (2) Any woman who, after the coming into operation of this Constitution, marries a citizen of Lesotho shall be entitled, upon making application and upon taking the oath of allegiance, to be registered as a citizen of Lesotho.”