A/HRC/60/42 Egypt had ruled it unconstitutional to deny women the right to confer nationality on their children. That had led to a 2004 amendment granting women that right, with the law applied retroactively – enabling children who had already been born to Egyptian mothers and foreign fathers to apply for nationality through the Ministry of the Interior. The reform had significantly reduced statelessness and had made it possible for affected children to access essential rights, such as to education, healthcare and other public services. 26. Mr. Farid highlighted the adoption of the country’s 2014 Constitution, which enshrined the right to nationality for children born to either Egyptian mothers or fathers. A 2023 amendment had extended that right to women who were naturalized Egyptians. That achievement had been the result of sustained and concerted efforts by civil society, legal experts, lawyers, policymakers and parliamentarians, through the extensive use of strategic litigation, public awareness campaigns and engagement with government to overcome entrenched resistance. 27. Charles Muendo, Deputy Director of the Directorate of Immigration Services in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and National Administration in Kenya, and the government focal point on statelessness, began by outlining the historical roots of statelessness in Kenya, tracing it back to the colonial period when labour migration had led to the settlement of communities whose descendants had later been rendered stateless due to exclusionary legal frameworks and missed registration opportunities after independence. Constitutional and legislative frameworks, in particular the 1963 Constitution and subsequent legislation, had not recognized members of those communities as Kenyan citizens. A major development had been achieved with the 2010 Constitution, which had introduced article 15 (2), allowing stateless persons to apply for citizenship. However, he stressed that the Citizenship and Immigration Act imposed restrictions, such as limiting eligibility to those who had been present in Kenya since 12 December 1963, thereby excluding many descendants of later migrants. He also highlighted the lack of safeguards for stateless children born in Kenya and the continuing inconsistencies in the identity verification process, which remained exclusionary. 28. Mr. Muendo highlighted other key milestones in addressing statelessness, including the recognition and documentation of the Makonde (2016), Shona (2020) and Pemba (2023) communities, following presidential proclamations. Those achievements had been made possible through community self-registration efforts that had allowed for verification and processing by the Government, with elders, NGOs and UNHCR playing a crucial role. Efforts were under way for stateless Rwandan and Burundian populations, with over 2,300 individuals undergoing verification as of December 2024. He welcomed those developments as evidence of strong political will and effective coordination between government institutions, civil society actors and international partners. 29. Nonetheless, Mr. Muendo stressed that challenges remained, including the lack of comprehensive data on stateless persons, the fear of prosecution among those who had obtained identity documents irregularly, and restrictive provisions in the Citizenship and Immigration Act. Funding constraints were an obstacle to effective outreach and registration. Mr. Muendo concluded by noting the existence of a draft amendment bill aimed at addressing those legal gaps and removing restrictive time limits, reaffirming the commitment of Kenya to eradicating statelessness and ensuring equal access to rights and services for all affected persons. 30. Macarena Rodríguez, a Chilean lawyer and Director of the Legal Clinic at the Alberto Hurtado University, began by outlining the legal frameworks governing nationality in Chile and Colombia. While both countries upheld the principle of jus soli (the right to nationality by birth in the territory), she highlighted how exceptions, particularly for children born to parents deemed “in transit” or without legal domicile, posed serious risks of statelessness for children of undocumented migrants and refugees. 31. Ms. Rodríguez detailed the context in Chile, where, in line with an administrative circular issued in 1995, “in transit” had been broadly interpreted to include all undocumented migrants and asylum-seekers, regardless of their time in the country. That had led to thousands of children being recorded as “children of transit foreigners” and being denied Chilean nationality. While some might have been eligible for the nationality of their parents, GE.25-10379 7