A/HRC/31/29 UNHCR, at least 29 per cent of all States globally currently have no such provision in their nationality laws, while at least a further 28 per cent of all States have inadequate provisions.30 This demonstrates a stark gap between the international human rights obligations of States and their national laws. 18. Further effort is needed to ensure the full compliance of legislation in all States with their human rights and other treaty obligations with regard to protecting children born on their territory from statelessness. According to a study on the nationality laws of 45 European countries, fewer than half – 21 States – had full safeguards in place to confer nationality to all stateless children born on the territory.31 In Africa, 12 of 55 States provided safeguards to confer nationality to all children born in the territory who would otherwise be stateless.32 In the Middle East and North Africa, 2 of 17 States were found to have such safeguards in place in their laws. 33 In the Americas, most States have an unconditional jus soli regime, granting nationality to all children born on the territory irrespective of whether they would otherwise be stateless (although exceptions exist for the children of diplomats). Some countries in the Americas, however, have been found to have legislation that may be regarded as not fully in line with applicable international standards.34 19. Many other States have safeguards that protect some children born on their territory from statelessness. The above-mentioned studies reveal that 22 of 55 African States whose legislation was analysed,35 and 4 of 45 European States, 36 have minimal measures in place to guarantee nationality to stateless children born in the country. 20. There are also gaps in legislation with regard to access to nationality for children born to nationals abroad and who are unable to acquire another nationality: at least 3 per cent of all States have no safeguard, and at least 44 per cent have inadequate safeguards. 37 Children born in exile to refugee parents38 and children of undocumented migrants39 can be especially vulnerable to statelessness owing to practical and procedural obstacles in their access to their parents’ nationality. The fact that 27 countries worldwide restrict the right of women to pass their nationality on to their children on equal terms with men poses specific problems.40 In many cases, these restrictive laws, besides discriminating on the basis of sex, fail to account for the possibility that statelessness may ensue for the child. Given that 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 to foundlings, and to grant nationality to children born abroad who are unable to acquire another nationality. UNHCR, Global Action Plan to End Statelessness 2014-2024, November 2014, p. 9. Submissions from Australia (with an example of such a safeguard outside Europe), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Malta, Portugal, Serbia and Slovakia. See European Network on Statelessness, No child should be stateless, London, September 2015. Bronwen Manby, “Citizenship and Statelessness in Africa: The law and politics of belonging”, 2015. Laura van Waas and Zahra Albarazi, “A comparative analysis of nationality laws in the MENA region”, Tilburg University, September 2014. European Union Democracy Observatory on Citizenship, Global Database on Protection against Statelessness, mode S01 (Born stateless). B. Manby, “Citizenship and Statelessness in Africa” (see footnote 32). European Network on Statelessness, No child should be stateless (see footnote 31). UNHCR, Global Action Plan to End Statelessness 2014-2024. Submission from the Office of the Ombudsman of Paraguay. See Zahra Albarazi and Laura van Waas, Statelessness and Displacement, scoping paper (Norwegian Refugee Council and Tilburg University, 2015); and Amit Sen and Charlie Dunmore, “Born in exile, Syrian children face threat of statelessness”, UNHCR 4 November 2014. Submission from the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM). UNHCR, Global Action Plan to End Statelessness 2014-2024. Submission from the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights. 7