UN Study focus of WUNRN
Juridical Aspects
A.1.International Covenant on Civil & Political
Rights
B.1.CEDAW - Article 9 of CEDAW provides for
equality between women and men
in the bestowal and retention of
nationality, and in according nationality to
children.
2.Convention on the Rights of the
Child
Factual Aspects
C.Forms of Discrimination Arising from the Status
of Women in the Family
2.Forms of Discrimination Related
to Nationality -From the UN Study text:
137."In many
countries mothers have fewer rights than fathers to transmit
nationality..."
4.Inheritance &
Property
UN Study Conclusions &
Recommendations
A.Internal Measures
1.Prevention
198.(v)"Laws should be abrogated or
amended to conform to international
provisions
on ... property, nationality, and civil status.
(vi)"Economic and social rights of women should be affirmed since lack of
property rights excludes women from decision making in family and
society."
Selected statements UN Division on the Advancement
of Women, Department of Economic and Social Affairs Booklet: Women,
Nationality, and Citizenship:
*The right to own land may also be contingent on
nationality. ....As the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against
Women noted in its General Recommendation 21 on Equality in Marriage and Family
Relations:
CEDAW Committee Recommendation 21:
"Nationality is
critical to full participation in society. In general, States confer nationality
on those who are born in that country. Nationality can also be acquired by
reason of settlement or granted for humanitarian reasons, such as statelessness.
Without status as nationals or citizens, women are deprived of the right to vote
or to stand for public office, and may be denied access to public benefits
and a choice of residence. Nationality should be capable of change by an adult
woman and should not be arbitrarily removed because of marriage or dissolution
of marriage or because her husband or father changes his
nationality."
*Historically, many States adopted the patriarchal
position that a woman's legal status is acquired through her relationship to a
man - first her father and then her husband......Laws that entrench the
principle of dependent personality (as on the husband) disempower married women
by depriving them of any choice about their nationality.
*Obstacles to the implementation of human rights
standards:
-International law accords States
considerable discretion with respect to the
conferral of nationality upon
individuals.
-Equality in nationality law can be seen as
contrary to traditional or customary
laws and practices.
-There are inadequate linkages between migration,
trafficking, prostitution,
immigration laws, and human rights
requirements.
"The intersection of legal issues of nationality,
immigration, discrimination, poverty, migration, violence against women and the
family, along with gendered stereotypes about migration patterns and personal
relationships, undermines women's enjoyment of a range of civil, political,
economic and social rights, and excludes them from the benefits of citizenship.
Further action to overcome these obstacles is required at both international and
national levels."
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