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.

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FULL DOCUMENT IS ATTACHED.

Via Eldis

Global Guidelines and Strategies for Universal Birth Registration

Lack of coordination hinders universal birth registration

Sharp, N. / Plan International , 2006

This document argues that there is an absence of clear and coordinated international leadership from the UN Statistical Office, which is the lead agency responsible for civil registration. Different stakeholders employ a mixture of approaches to their birth registration efforts and do not always work with each other and with national governments in a coordinated and strategic manner.

The author argues that there needs to be an agreement for a common agenda for birth registration in order to best harness collective efforts. The paper suggests that to mount an effective global response to birth registration it will be necessary to work together under a framework of agreed international guidelines and strategies. Such a framework could build upon the International Programme for Accelerating the Improvement of Vital Statistics and Civil Registration Systems developed by the UN Statistical Office in 1991, but should also introduce a rights-based perspective, ensuring that the voices of those most affected by the absence of a legal identity are heard.

The author suggests that the starting point for such an initiative can be found within the Concluding Observations and General Comments of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. These communicate to State parties the importance of birth registration within the Convention as a whole, provide guidance on the principles under which birth registration efforts should be implemented and suggest a number of strategies that will help to make the attainment of Universal Birth Registration (UBR) a reality.

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