Heather Alexander be established for children born out-of-wedlock to obtain Malian nationality. Children born out-of-wedlock to a foreign parent whose parentage was later established (usually the father) had the right to refuse Malian nationality within six months of majority.58 Nationality at birth in the 1962 Code therefore reflected both gender discrimination and discrimination against those born out of wedlock common at the time.59 Gender discrimination can be found in other parts of the 1962 Code. Nationality via adoption was available only to children adopted by Malian fathers.60 For the children of foreign fathers and women who had previously obtained Malian nationality through marriage, Article 22 allowed for Malian nationality to pass to such children only if the foreign father was dead and the child resided in Mali.61 Nationality by marriage was automatic for women, unless declined, declared null, or opposed by the government. Nationality by marriage, however, was not possible for men without going through a naturalisation procedure (discussed below).62 Article 12 of the 1962 Code provided for nationality of origin to be automatically attributed on the basis of double-birth (double jus soli) to a child born in the territory of a parent who was also born there. However, unlike the similar provisions in neighbouring former French territories, there was an element of racial discrimination contained in Mali’s provision on double-birth. In reflection of the pan-Africanism of the day, double-birth was limited to persons born to parents ‘of African origin,’ a clause which was not defined but which may have referred to persons of African racial descent.63 Article 27 provided for persons born in Mali to foreign parents to acquire Malian nationality if, by the age of majority, they had had their habitual residence in Mali for a minimum of five years. For the purposes of this article, habitual residence included, under Article 35, persons residing in other African Union states and residence abroad while serving in the Malian military. The law contained several important protections against statelessness. These included protections for foundlings and the children of unknown parents in Art. 11. In line with the usual provisions in former French territories, a foundling or child of unknown parents could lose Malian nationality if its parentage was later established and the person obtained the nationality of that parent.64 Article 8 of the code also contained express protections against statelessness for the children of one Malian parent and a stateless parent.65 The grounds and procedures for naturalisation were provided for in Articles 28-32 of the code and its Circulaire d'application. Naturalisation required five years of residence in Mali; two years for men married to Malian women or who had performed ‘outstanding service’ to Mali.66 Articles 30-32 laid out certain conditions of naturalisation, excluding categories of persons, such as those having committed a serious crime or who were not of good character. 58 1962 Code Art. 10(1). B. Manby, ‘Citizenship Law in Africa: A Comparative Study’ Open Society Foundation, 3rd edition, 2016, 41, 63. See also Ousmane Koné, « La controverse autour du code des personnes et de la famille au Mali : enjeux et stratégies des acteurs » Phd dissertation, Université de Montréal (Septembre 2015) 134-137. 60 1962 Code Arts. 20 & 21. 61 1962 Code Art. 22. 62 1962 Code Arts. 23-26. 63 1962 Code Art. 12. 64 1962 Code Art. 11. 65 1962 Code Arts. 8 &11. 66 « …des services exceptionnels. » 1962 Code Art. 29. 59 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/11 - © 2020 Author(s) 9