amended in 2017) does not allow female citizens to confer nationality to their children and spouses on par with male citizens. Under the same law, Emirati citizens by birth or naturalisation are subject to stripping of nationality without a right to judicial review and without safeguarding against statelessness. 15. The number of non-citizens residing in the UAE is estimated at around 88% of the total population. There is no official estimate of the number of stateless persons or persons at risk of statelessness in the UAE.15 Policies undertaken by the UAE Government since the early 2000s indicate that many long-standing residents of the UAE lack access to any citizenship.16 As a result of these features of Emirati law and social structure, Emirati citizenship is a revocable and precarious status for those who express dissent, regardless of whether they were naturalised or born with a right to Emirati citizenship. The relative ease with which citizenship can be stripped threatens a wide range of citizens’ and citizenship applicants‘ human rights, by stifling political expression and dissent. National Law 16. The UAE’s nationality law is Federal Law No. 17 of 1972 Concerning Nationality & Passports (“1972 Law”, “Nationality Law”). Under the law, citizenship can be acquired by descent via the patrilineal line and under limited conditions via the maternal line, marriage, or naturalisation. Foundlings in the country are also entitled to Emirati citizenship. At the time of the UAE’s establishment, citizens of one of the constituent Emirates who could prove that they had resided in the Emirate since 1925 could claim the citizenship of the Federation. The 1972 Law also regulates withdrawal of citizenship of birth-right as well as naturalised citizens. 17. The UAE legal framework on nationality does not include a definition of statelessness, though measures to protect against statelessness can be found in the 1972 Law. The Nationality Law was significantly amended in August 2017. 17 The amendments concerned women’s right to transmit their nationality to their children born to foreign fathers, albeit still on discriminatory basis, conditions for naturalisation, and the revocation of citizenship. 18. In terms of implementation of gender-equal nationality provisions, the impact of the amendments to the law is mixed and difficult to evaluate comprehensively, in the absence of published Executive Regulations. Facilitating Emirati women’s ability to transmit their nationality to children born in the UAE by application is undoubtedly a step in the direction toward gender equality, though it comes far too short. 19. Further, the 2017 amendment introduced more stringent conditions for the naturalised. 18 Many requirements and procedures previously stipulated in the nationality law were moved out of view to the Executive Regulations, which, to the co- 15 Research by Refugees International in 2005 estimated that around 100,000 stateless persons reside in the UAE. M. Lynch, Lives on Hold: The Human Cost of Statelessness, (2005), Refugees Int’l, p. 21. 16 U.A.E. Federal Supreme Council (2006) Resolution (2) of 2005 Concerning the Problem of Stateless Persons (the Bidoon), (28 September), available at https://lexmena.com/law/ar_fed~2005-12-03_00002_2020-01-27/. 17 Federal Law No. (17) of 1972, Concerning Nationality and Passports with its amendments, Federal Decree-Law No. (16) Of 2017 concerning the amendment of some provisions of Federal Law No. (17) of 1972 regarding Nationality and Passports. 18 Ibid. Art. 3. 4