AHMR African Human Mobilty Review - Volume 8 No 3, SEP-DEC 2022
nationality laws have been successfully challenged and reformed on the basis of
their violation of equality and non-discrimination rights, setting a precedent for
law reform in many other jurisdictions. However, as we have seen in the above
discussion, law reform is only part of the response. As the African Commission on
Human and Peoples’ Rights notes, significant gaps remain between these guarantees
on paper and implementation in practice at the national level. Moreover, there is
evidence of indirect forms of gender discrimination impacting the application of
gender-neutral laws, undermining women’s nationality rights, including with access
to identity documentation and birth registration. This preliminary analysis suggests
that gender discrimination is so widespread in nature that it requires closer attention
to how indirect, systemic gender discrimination plays out in the implementation of
even gender-neutral laws and administrative and bureaucratic processes related to
nationality, with consequences for elevated risks of statelessness.
The promising progress in recognising how gender discrimination against
women impacts statelessness is welcome. There is a clear trend towards reform of
gender-discriminatory nationality laws and affirmation of equal nationality rights at
international, regional, and national levels. But, as many people, especially women,
around Southern Africa struggle to obtain or retain identity documents, register
the births of their children, and face gender-discriminatory laws and policies, it is
apparent that more work and further research is needed. International human rights
law, and especially the substantive view of equality enshrined in CEDAW, calls for
much more attention to the many ways in which varied forms of discrimination
against women contribute to statelessness and compound the effects of being stateless.
Intersectional feminist analysis highlights the need to explore underlying structural
inequalities and discriminatory norms that play out in women’s vulnerability to
statelessness, and the compounded and intersecting grounds of discrimination that
are often involved. While this article has sought to draw attention to some of these
issues, and provide insights into current developments on gender and statelessness
in the Southern African region, further attention in research and literature is needed.
Deepening understanding of the unique gendered dimensions that are both a
cause and consequence of statelessness is important to ensure a rights-based and
comprehensive response in prevention and protection efforts.
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