ABSTRACT
This chapter explores through an understanding of the history and development of the situation of statelessness across the region – a consequence of nation-state formation, state succession and/or discriminatory ethnic, religious and gender law and policy – the striking commonalities in both the causes and consequences of statelessness. It focuses on how the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region lacks a common language on statelessness which may have contributed to the fact that these groups are often discussed in isolation of one another, with a limited sense of having a shared cause. The chapter also focuses on how the current framework for understating statelessness in the region can obstruct opportunities to address the issue regionally and can even be used to perpetuate statelessness. Discrimination against women in nationality laws can be found in legislation around the world. Statelessness has also resulted from the 'Arabisation' movement that took hold of the region in the 1960s and 1970s.
