In 2017, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) partially reformed its nationality law, allowing children born in the UAE or abroad to an Emirati mother who is married to a foreign national to apply for Emirati nationality when they reach the age of six. This adds to the existing circumstances in which Emirati women can confer nationality, for example where children are born in the UAE and their fathers are unknown, stateless or where the paternal relationship has not been substantiated. In 2019, Iran partially reformed its law to allow Iranian women to apply to confer their nationality on their children, regardless of their place of birth. However, in July 2023, a parliamentary group proposed a new bill that, if adopted, would significantly restrict the applicability of the 2019 nationality law. The proposed bill limits eligibility for naturalization to persons above the age of 18 born to officially registered marriages. This contrasts with the 2019 law, which also includes children born of Sharia marriages (not officially registered) that occurred before the law’s adoption. The bill also introduces additional requirements for eligible children, such as renouncing any other nationality and undergoing a DNA test to confirm their lineage to the Iranian mother. For eligible children under 18, the bill proposes issuing a residence permit based on their father’s residence status. The amendment is under review by the parliament. In July 2022, the House of Representatives of Nepal endorsed a bill to amend the Citizenship Act 2006, which would allow children born to a Nepali citizen mother outside Nepal to apply for naturalized citizenship of Nepal, among other provisions. In 2023, the Privy Council of the Bahamas, the country’s highest court, ruled that children born out of wedlock to Bahamian fathers and foreign mothers are Bahamian citizens at birth.1 Previously, the Constitution had been interpreted as granting them only the right to apply for nationality at age 18. This ruling upheld a 2020 decision of the Court of Appeal. In 2024, the Passport Act was amended to allow individuals affected by the ruling to apply for a passport, provided their father is identified on their birth certificate. In Eswatini, ongoing litigation seeks to address gender discrimination in the nationality law. The case Machakata v. Minister of Home Affairs & Others seeks a High Court declaratory order to ensure that the relevant legislative provisions are interpreted in a non-discriminatory manner. Notably, the Eswatini Ministry of Home Affairs is not opposing the case. Although nationality laws can be complex, ensuring gender equality often requires relatively simple amendments. This can be seen in the example of Kenya’s constitutional reform in 2010. Under the prior Kenyan Constitution of 1969, Kenyan mothers and fathers could confer Kenyan nationality on their children born in Kenya on an equal basis, but only Kenyan fathers could confer nationality on children born abroad. The 2010 Constitution of Kenya addressed this, using the following formulation: A person is a citizen by birth if on the day of the person’s birth, whether or not the person is born in Kenya, either the mother or father of the person is a citizen. 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 5 7