Nationality and Cases of Statelessness in the Middle East and North Africa at odds with article 9 of CEDAW, the first paragraph of which compels states to ensure, among others, that the “neither marriage to an alien nor change of nationality by the husband during marriage shall automatically change the nationality of the wife, render her stateless or force upon her the nationality of the husband”. In these states, children can also be stripped of their nationality in conjunction with a parent who is denaturalised and they, too, may be left stateless in the process. This is also the case in certain circumstances in Bahrain, Jordan and Libya – and in the first two of these, a nationality acquired by birth may also be affected. All such provisions which allow the effect of loss or deprivation of nationality to extend to a spouse or child without a safeguard to avoid statelessness contravene article 6 of the 1961 Statelessness Convention. Where the effect is on a child, they may also raise questions under article 8 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child which protects the child’s right to preserve his or her identity, including nationality. 3.4 Further common elements of MENA countries’ nationality laws In the preceding sections, the conditions set by MENA countries for the acquisition and loss of nationality were presented in some detail. As such, the bulk of 128