CEDAW/C/GC/32 parties to article 9 of the Convention undermine the object and purpose of the Convention. The rights to nationality and non-discrimination contained in many other international human rights instruments, 55 which reinforce the equal right of women to nationality, also raise the question of the validity and legal effect of such reservations. The Committee notes with interest the trend towards the withdrawal or, at least, the narrowing of reservations to article 9 and the related tendency of States parties to introduce formal equality of men and women in nationality laws, thereby reducing the risk of discrimination against women and in particular of statelessness among women and their children. B. Comments on specific articles of the Convention 59. Article 9 of the Convention establishes that women enjoy the rights to acquire, change or retain their nationality and to confer their nationality on their children on an equal basis with men. The Committee has interpreted that this right also applies to spouses. 56 60. Article 9 (1) requires States parties to ensure that neither marriage to a foreigner nor change of nationality by the husband during marriage automatically changes the nationality of the wife, renders her stateless or forces upon her the nationality of the husband. Women can become stateless as a result of discriminatory laws and practices in which, for example, a woman’s nationality is automatically lost upon marriage to a foreigner and she cannot acquire her husband’s nationality on the basis of marriage; if her husband changes his nationality, becomes stateless or dies; or where her marriage ends in divorce. 61. Article 9 (2) of the Convention requires States parties to ensure that women and men have equal rights to confer their nationality to their children. The non-fulfilment by States parties of their obligations under article 9 (2) places children at risk of statelessness. Nationality laws that grant nationality through paternal descent alone infringe article 9 (2) and may render children stateless if: (a) The father is stateless; (b) The laws of the father’s country do not permit him to confer nationality in certain circumstances, such as when the child is born abroad; (c) The father is unknown or not married to the mother at the time of the child’s birth; (d) The father has been unable to fulfil administrative steps to confer his nationality or acquire proof of nationality for his children because, for example, he has died, has been forcibly separated from his family or cannot fulfil onerous documentation or other requirements; __________________ 55 56 14-64766 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 15; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, arts. 2, 3, 24 and 26; Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 7; International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, art. 5; Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 18; and International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, art. 29. CEDAW/C/KWT/CO/3-4, para. 37. 19/21