Malaysia – Equality Now joint submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women 69th pre-sessional working group, July 2017

The joint submission deals with our concerns about the gender-based discrimination in Malaysia’s nationality law, as enshrined in the Constitution of Malaysia, including:

• • The inability of women married to foreigners to pass on their nationality to their children born abroad on an equal basis with men;

• • Women’s inability to confer nationality on spouses, a right reserved for men; and

• • The inability of unmarried Malaysian men to confer nationality on children born abroad out of wedlock on an equal basis with unmarried women.

The Committee referenced this submission in their 2018 Concluding Observations following the 69th session held in March 2018.

Submitted by: Equality Now, DHRRA Malaysia, and The Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights