A/HRC/36/30 on the basis of sex, on the basis of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. 15 States had also made relevant pledges in a number of global and regional initiatives to realize gender equality and reform laws discriminatory against women, or more specifically to eliminate gender discrimination in nationality law. 16 Likewise, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development included targets on achieving gender equality for all women and girls, eliminating all discriminatory laws, policies and practices and providing a legal identity for all. 17 Furthermore, eliminating discrimination against women in nationality rights was necessary for the achievement of a number of Sustainable Development Goals. 18 16. Some delegations observed that granting equal nationality rights to women and thus reducing statelessness contributed to broader national development, stability and security of the society and well-being of the population. Affected persons also highlighted the distress caused by social stigma, lack of identity, marginalization and alienation. Reducing the statelessness of women and their family facilitated more inclusive political and economic participation, the improvement of living conditions of affected persons, the elimination of social stigma against stateless persons and the reduction of social instability and insecurity resulting from social exclusion. 17. Some observed that discrimination against women in nationality rights increased the risks of domestic violence against women and children. Women who had lost their nationality through marriage or whose children did not have access to their mother’s nationality may be less likely to report domestic violence or to leave an abusive marriage. Additionally, there was a higher risk of human trafficking among stateless women and girls. Discrimination against women in nationality laws could also contribute to child, early and forced marriages. Girls and women who were without nationality in their home country may be forced into child, early and forced marriage in hopes of obtaining greater security and access to the benefits of citizenship through their spouse. 19 18. Experts and participants referred to the risk that discrimination against women in nationality laws posed to family unity and the child’s right to know and be cared for by his or her parents. 20 It was reported that some women chose not to marry or have children because of the risk of rendering their children stateless and that some women felt guilty for marrying foreigners and depriving their children of citizenship. In some cases, this had given rise to extreme hardship for women and their families and some women had chosen to divorce their husbands in order to be able to confer their nationality on their children. 21 Those situations contradicted the right to marry and found a family. 22 Some experts also stated that, when women could not confer their nationality on their children and spouses, family members may be forced to live separately owing to deportation of those who did not 15 See Human Rights Council resolution 32/7, eighth preambular para. Such commitments include: the 2000 outcome document of the General Assembly at its twenty-third special session entitled “Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-First Century”; the 2011 pledges made by States at the UNHCR Ministerial Intergovernmental Event on Refugees and Stateless Persons, available from www.refworld.org/docid/50aca6112.html; the 2015 political declaration of the Commission on the Status of Women at its fifty-ninth session; the 2016 agreed conclusions of the Commission on the Status of Women at its sixtieth session; and a number of recommendations relevant to women’s equal nationality rights accepted by Member States during the universal periodic review process. 17 See Human Rights Council resolution 32/7, thirteenth preambular para. 18 See annex for the examples of Sustainable Development Goals that may be negatively affected by discrimination against women in nationality rights. 19 See A/HRC/23/23, para. 53. 20 The Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes in its preamble that “the child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding”, and provides for States’ obligation to protect family unity and family environment for children (see, for example arts. 5 and 8-10). See also A/HRC/23/23, para. 48. 21 See also Women’s Refugee Commission, Our Motherland, Our Country: Gender Discrimination and Statelessness in the Middle East and North Africa (New York, 2013). 22 Article 23 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights recognizes “the right of men and women of marriageable age to marry and to found a family shall be recognized”. 16 5