20. Populations at risk of statelessness also include women and children. Even though no provisions in the Constitution or Citizenship Act stipulate deprivation of nationality of women upon marriage to a foreign national, cases of such loss of nationality have been documented in practice. This practice is steeped on cultural norms that assume the woman has acquired or will acquire her husband’s nationality through marriage, along with following her husband’s domicile, taking her husband’s surname, adapting to his culture and other aspects attendant to it. Women who have thus been deprived of their Eswatini nationality, face the risk of statelessness, particularly if they do not acquire their husband’s nationality or subsequently lose it and cannot reacquire their Swazi nationality. Children born of these marriages could also face challenges to access Eswatini nationality through their mother, and therefore can face risks of statelessness. 21. Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) whose parents passed away without registering their births are at risk of becoming stateless. The CANGO children consortium engaged in advocacy efforts with the relevant Ministry to enroll OVC in schools. However, their acceptance into the educational system was not secured. Such children are also at risk of being denied access to various other social services. 22. Due to the lack of awareness of statelessness, related protection concerns and access to justice, those rendered stateless/at risk of statelessness/with compromised nationality rights are often unable to obtain support from civil society organisations or government authorities, with their cases largely remaining undocumented and unresolved. National Law 23. Citizenship in Eswatini is governed by Chapter IV of the 2005 Constitution, 10 and by the 1992 Citizenship Act.11 The Constitution provides for gender equality in transmission of citizenship to children born before it came into effect, but provides that only the father can transmit citizenship to children born after the Constitution came into force, (Art 43.1) unless the child of a Swazi woman was born outside of marriage and was not adopted or recognised by the father (Art 43.4). The Constitution also denies women the right to transmit citizenship to her foreign spouse, a right reserved for Swazi men (Art. 44 of the Constitution and Art. 8 of the Citizenship Act). 24. The law is discriminatory both on the basis of marital status and gender as Articles 43 and 44 of the 2005 Constitution do not allow a Swazi woman to transfer her nationality to her children or foreign spouse on an equal basis with Swazi men. This discriminatory provision violates the state’s obligations as a state party to CEDAW, CRC, and the ICCPR and results in the inability of some children to enjoy their right to a nationality.12 25. Moreover, Eswatini's domestic law does not contain any safeguard to ensure that children born in the country who would otherwise be stateless are granted Eswatini nationality. There are cases of children born to Swazi mothers and foreign fathers who are stateless as they are unable to obtain nationality from either parent. Although customary law considers children to belong to the father and his family if the couple 10 The Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland Act 2005. Available at: https://www.wipo.int/edocs/lexdocs/laws/en/sz/sz010en.pdf 11 Swaziland Citizenship Act, 1992 [Eswatini], Act 14/1992, 1 December 1992, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4c5696752.html [accessed 22 March 2021] 12 UNHCR, ‘Submission by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees For the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Compilation Report Universal Periodic Review: 2nd Cycle, 25th Session: Swaziland’, available at 5