UNHCR and UN Women have released the Background Note on Gender Equality, Nationality Laws and Statelessness 2026, providing updated global data on gender discrimination in nationality legislation and its links to statelessness.

The publication highlights that despite significant progress over recent decades, nationality laws in 28 countries still do not grant women equal rights with men to confer nationality on their children. In 24 of these countries, women who are nationals at birth are unable to pass their nationality to their biological children on an equal basis with fathers, creating a continuing risk of statelessness. The publication explains that discriminatory nationality laws can leave children without a nationality in situations where the father is stateless, unknown, unable to complete administrative procedures, or unwilling to confer nationality. Statelessness can in turn lead to barriers in accessing essential rights and services, including education, healthcare, and legal protection. The report situates these issues within the international legal framework, highlighting obligations under instruments such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which recognize the right to nationality and the principle of non-discrimination.

CHIP welcomes this publication, which highlights the continuing importance of gender-equal nationality laws in preventing statelessness and safeguarding children’s right to identity. This report will provide a strong foundation to support the work of the Global Alliance to End Statelessness’ Thematic Working Group on Ending Childhood Statelessness, which is co-chaired by UNICEF and CHIP.

Source: https://www.refworld.org/sites/default/files/2026-03/background_note_gender-20266mar26_final.pdf