HARVARD  HUMAN  RIGHTS  JOURNAL  ONLINE          JANUARY  2015   children4  and  their  parents,  such  as  the  criminalization  of  adultery  in  the  UAE,  risk   the  result  of  unregistered  and  even  stateless  children.     The   Middle   East   and   North   Africa   (MENA)   region5   is   host   to   many   of   the   world’s  largest  chronic  stateless  populations:  the  bidoon  of  the  Gulf,  stateless  Kurds   in   Lebanon   and   Syria,   and   stateless   Palestinians   living   throughout   the   region.6   But   the   legal   systems   of   many   Middle   Eastern   countries   also   leave   children   of   citizens   vulnerable  to  statelessness.         A   first   step   toward   universal   access   to   nationality   is   correcting   gender-­‐‑ discriminatory  nationality  laws,  a  yet-­‐‑elusive  goal  throughout  the  Middle  East.7  But   that  will  likely  be  an  incomplete  solution:  civil  registration  laws  and  practice,  social   stigma   against   unwed   parents   and   non-­‐‑marital   children,   and   laws   criminalizing   adultery  all  place  non-­‐‑marital  children  at  a  great  risk  of  statelessness.       Statelessness  and  human  rights   A   stateless   person   is   someone   who   is   “not   considered   as   a   national   by   any   State  under  the  operation  of  its  law.”8  Statelessness  is  itself  a  deprivation  of  a  human   right—the   right   to   a   nationality—and   stateless   individuals   frequently   experience   further   deprivation   of   rights   such   as   the   right   to   education,   freedom   of   movement,   and  family  life.9   International  law,  including  the  Convention  on  the  Rights  of  the  Child  (CRC),   the  most  widely  ratified  international  human  rights  treaty,  requires  that  “each  child   shall   be   registered   immediately   after   birth   and   shall   have   the   right   from   birth   to   a   name  [and]  the  right  to  acquire  a  nationality.”10  The  International  Covenant  on  Civil   and   Political   Rights   (ICCPR)   establishes   that   each   child   “has   the   right   to   acquire   a   nationality.”11   All   states   in   MENA   have   ratified   the   CRC   and   the   majority   has   also   ratified  the  ICCPR.12                                                                                                                              Rather  than  using  the  pejorative  term  “illegitimate  children,”  I  use  the  term  “non-­‐‑marital  children.”       For   the   purposes   of   this   article,   the   MENA   region   comprises   Algeria,   Bahrain,   Egypt,   Iraq,   Israel,   Jordan,   Kuwait,   Lebanon,   Libya,   Mauritania,   Morocco,   the   Occupied   Palestinian   Territories,   Oman,   Qatar,  Saudi  Arabia,  Syria,  Tunisia,  United  Arab  Emirates  (UAE),  and  Yemen.     6  LAURA  VAN  WAAS,  U.N.  HIGH  COMM’R  FOR  REFUGEES,  THE  SITUATION  OF  STATELESS  PERSONS  IN  THE   MIDDLE  EAST  AND  NORTH  AFRICA  2  (2010),  http://www.refworld.org/docid/4cea28072.html.   7  See  generally  UNHCR,  BACKGROUND  NOTE  ON  GENDER  EQUALITY,  NATIONALITY  LAWS  AND   STATELESSNESS  2014  (2014),  http://www.unhcr.org/4f5886306.html.   8  Convention  Relating  to  the  Status  of  Stateless  Persons,  art.  1,  opened  for  signature  Sept.  28,  1954,  360   U.N.T.S.  117  (entered  into  force  Jun.  6,  1960).   9  WAAS,  supra  note  6,  at  2.   10  Convention  on  the  Rights  of  the  Child,  art.  7,  opened  for  signature  Nov.  20,  1989,  1577  U.N.T.S.  3   (entered  into  force  Sept.  2,  1990)  [hereinafter  CRC].   11  International  Covenant  on  Civil  and  Political  Rights,  art.  24(1),  opened  for  signature  Dec.  19,  1966,  S.   TREATY  DOC.  NO.  95-­‐‑20,  999  U.N.T.S.  171  (entered  into  force  Mar.  23,  1976)  [hereinafter  ICCPR].  The   4 5 2       Electronic copy copy available available at: Electronic at:https://ssrn.com/abstract=2547550 http://ssrn.com/abstract=2547550