South Africa

South Africa has gender equal nationality laws, but was found to discriminate on the basis of marital status in its civil registration law. In 2021 the Constitutional Court of South Africa found a section of the Births and Deaths Registration Act to be unconstitutional. Part of this ruling was due to the section limiting the right of unmarried fathers to register their child’s birth, and consequently discriminating against children born to unmarried parents including limiting their access to nationality.