WUNRN
Women & Girls - Citizenship -
Nationality - Rights
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.".....
"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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Open Society Justice Initiative
Example of Gender Component:
"Gender-based discrimination in access to citizenship (where
women are unable to pass on their citizenship to their foreign-born spouses or
children from these partnerships)."
Africa
Citizenship and Discrimination Audit
Citizenship policy is becoming a common vehicle for discriminatory action in a number of African countries. The Justice Initiative is mapping the worst offenders.
The Africa Discrimination and Citizenship Audit (the Audit) will map ethnic, racial, and citizenship-based discrimination in African countries and will look closely at the intersections of these kinds of discrimination, gender discrimination, and access to citizenship. The Audit is a response to the trend among some African governments to use group membership as a basis for political and economic marginalization. It is designed to provide a means to address restrictive citizenship policies that are either prima facie discriminatory or require individuals to meet effectively impossible conditions in order to prove their citizenship. In some countries these policies have resulted in mass denationalization or widespread statelessness.
The Audit is a project of the Open Society Justice Initiative (the Justice Initiative), the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), and the Open Society Foundation of South Africa (OSF-SA). It is being implemented in cooperation with local partners in Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The Audit involves the documentation in each country of legislation, judgments, policy statements, and ratified regional and international instruments relevant to the following kinds of discrimination:
With a view to establishing the legal framework in each of the above areas of discrimination, project partners are collecting and analyzing the following texts:
National partners will collect:
Once compiled for each country, the Justice Initiative will synthesize these documents into a comparative report, together with a commentary on the socio-political context, aimed at increasing awareness of discrimination and recommending legislative change. The report will target civil society organizations and policymakers. Individual country reports may also be published.
Other Activities
The Justice Initiative and others will use the Audit as a basis for further action, such as promoting law reform in favor of increased protection against discrimination, and identifying opportunities for litigation at the national and regional levels to challenge discriminatory laws and practices. The report will provide a basis for advocating comprehensive anti-discrimination protections in the Audit countries, based upon international and regional standards.
The Justice Initiative will facilitate local consultations, where relevant, to generate ideas for further information-gathering and advocacy. The Justice Initiative will also liaise closely with policymakers and funders to increase awareness of this critical issue. Activities that have been suggested include:
The Justice Initiative will work closely with local partners, civil society organizations, lawmakers, and others to identify and design projects that promote anti-discrimination norms and practice. Partners will be consulted on how best to document any resulting projects.
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