Addressing Statelessness through ICERD
grounds has not been proven’, it noted that such a popular vote should not
discriminate on one of the grounds of discrimination. 115
Gender discrimination
According to the Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, ‘women belonging to
minorities may be further marginalized by gender-based discrimination in relation
to the acquisition, change or retention of nationality and the conferral of
nationality on their children’. 116 This applies, among others, to the 25 states
worldwide that have laws in place that deny women from transferring nationality
to their children, posing one of the root causes of statelessness in these
countries. 117 As previously mentioned, the Committee emphasises the need to pay
attention to ‘complex forms of disadvantage’, which is particularly true for the
relation between gender and racial discrimination. 118 This is mentioned in the
ICERD’s preamble, considering that it is one of the United Nations’ purposes to
oversee human rights without distinction as to ‘race, sex, language or religion’. 119
In its General Recommendation No 25, the Committee emphasised the importance
of ‘gender-related dimensions of racial discrimination’. 120 In GR 30, it specifically
mentioned ‘allowing both parents to transmit their citizenship to their children’ as
a measure to reduce statelessness. 121 In its Concluding Observations, the
Committee noted that women married to foreign men do not pass their nationality
on an equal basis to men married to foreign women, in countries including Saudi
Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait and Nigeria. 122 It recommended that
Madagascar revise its nationality law to ensure that Malagasy women can transfer
their nationality to their children on an equal footing as men. 123 While at first sight,
these recommendations seem to be about discrimination on gender more than on
race or other ground under the ICERD, the Committee makes, both implicitly and
explicitly, reference to discrimination against the husband on the ground of
national origin in most of these communications.
115 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Opinion Adopted by the Committee
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
under Article 14 of the Convention, Concerning Communication No 53/2013, UN Doc
CERD/C/91/D/53/2013 (23 January 2017) [6.2], [7.6].
Fernand de Varennes, Report of the Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, 57th sess, Agenda
item 3, UN Doc A/HRC/37/66 (16 January 2018) [37].
Statelessness and Human Rights: The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (Report, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion 2017). For
more information, see Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights (Web Page)
<https://equalnationalityrights.org/>.
SRG, UN Doc CERD/C/2007/1 (n 25) arts 5(II)(B) [19].
ICERD (n 3) preamble.
GR 25, UN Doc CERD/C/GC/25 (n 26).
GR 30, UN Doc CERD/C/64/Misc.11/Rev.3 (n 13) [16]. This was reiterated in the GR 25,
UN Doc CERD/C/GC/25 (n 26) [19].
Concluding Observations: Saudi Arabia, UN Doc CERD/C/SAU/CO/4-9 (n 106) [29];
Concluding Observations: Jordan, UN Doc CERD/C/JOR/CO/18-20 (n 51) [22]; Committee
on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Consideration of Reports Submitted by States
Parties under Article 9 of the Convention, Concluding Observation of the Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination: Bahrain, UN Doc CERD/C/BHR/CO/7 (14 April
2005) [25]; Concluding Observations: Kuwait, UN Doc CERD/C/KWT/CO/21-24 n 105)
[27]–[28]; Concluding Observations: UAE, UN Doc CERD/C/ARE/CO/18-21 (n 105) [30];
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Consideration of Reports Submitted
by States Parties under Article 9 of the Convention: Concluding Observations of the
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: Nigeria, UN Doc
CERD/C/NGA/CO/18 (27 March 2007) [21].
Concluding Observations: Madagascar, UN Doc CERD/C/65/CO/4 (n 113) [15].
239