Nationality rights and equal opportunities
Recommendation 1654
(2004)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Text adopted by the
Standing Committee, on behalf of the Assembly, on 2 March 2004 (see Doc.10070, report
of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, rapporteur:
Ms Aguiar).
- Thesaurus
1. Traditionally, each state determines
under its own law who are its nationals, although many states have accepted
to be bound by international instruments relating to citizenship,
multiple nationality and statelessness.
2. In matters of nationality, account must be taken both of the
legitimate interests of states and those of individuals. One of
the most important legitimate interests of individuals is not to
be discriminated against – in particular, on the grounds of gender.
However, while this principle has, today, been recognised by most
states in theory, in practice discrimination has occurred in the
past and may still occur in some cases.
3. Unfortunately, no in-depth comparative study of legislation
on nationality focusing on equal opportunities between women and
men in Council of Europe member and Observer states has so far been
undertaken. The Parliamentary Assembly thus has to base its evaluation
of the situation on a survey conducted by its Committee on Equal
Opportunities for Women and Men, to which replies from thirty-two
member and three Observer states were received.
4. The Assembly congratulates those countries which have removed
discrimination based on gender from their legislation. In particular,
it welcomes the elimination of discrimination against women in several
Council of Europe member states (where citizenship used to be passed
down the male line, or women lost their citizenship upon marriage
to a foreigner), as well as the elimination of discrimination against
men (who were not always allowed to pass down their nationality
to illegitimate children, especially those born abroad). Nearly all
of the laws in question have full retroactive effect, which is of
paramount importance in the area of nationality rights.
5. Some work remains to be carried out, however. Men continue
to face obstacles in passing down their nationality to children
born out of wedlock to a foreign mother in Denmark, Iceland, Malta
and Switzerland. Some discrimination against women also subsists
in Switzerland and Turkey, which are about to revise their legislation
to eliminate this. Some provisions applied to the dependants of
Vatican citizens could be revised to ensure equal treatment of men
and women.
6. The Assembly also points out that the situation in the thirteen
member and two Observer states which it was not able to study might
give rise to legitimate concern. Some countries’ provisions on naturalisation requirements
may also lead to unintentional discrimination against foreign women
as regards, for example, income, social integration or knowledge
of language, although some countries have taken measures to counterbalance
this effect.
7. The Assembly thus recommends that the Committee of Ministers:
7.1 conduct an in-depth comparative
study of the legislation on nationality in all Council of Europe member
and Observer states focusing on equal opportunities between women
and men, which would uncover any distinctions being made on grounds
of gender (be they intentional or unintentional, or due to the lack
of retroactivity of legislation intended to eliminate discrimination),
would highlight best practices and would make concrete proposals
to remedy any shortcomings;
7.2 call on the governments and parliaments of member and
Observer states to eliminate any possibility of discrimination on
the grounds of gender in their legislation on nationality, if they
have not done so already, and to ensure that such legislation is
doted with full retroactive effect and is applied in a gender-neutral
manner.
