Enforcing Rights and Correcting Wrongs - Asia-Pacific Regional ...

Developed regions
basic rights, regardless of their religion, race, place of
origin, political opinions, colour, religion or creed and
so on. Apart from Fiji, no constitution specifically protects
discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. 53
However, Vanuatu’s example of criminalizing discrimination
exists where the 1981 Penal Code makes
discrimination a criminal offence – an unusual provision
in the Pacific region. 54 2007
2004
East Asia & Paci�c
2007 23.1%
Latin America 2004
& Caribbean 2007 6.9%
34.5%
But no one in Vanuatu has been
known to have Middle been East prosecuted 2004 for a breach of Section
150 despite& North the Africa high2007 level of discrimination against
ni-Vanuatu women in both conventional and kustom
law systems. 2004
South Asia
Legal provisions discriminate on the basis of gender. One
of the mostSub-Saharan glaring examples 2004 of how legal systems in
Africa
Asia-Pacific drift from2007 42.6%
the principles of equality is in
nationality rights, part of the foundation of citizenship
Cambodia
China
Indonesia
Korea, Democratic People's Republic of
Korea, Republic of
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Malaysia
Mongolia
Myanmar
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Viet Nam
Source: UNDP 2010.
2004
2007
Bangladesh
Bhutan
India
Maldives
Nepal
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Australia
Fiji
Kiribati
Marshall Islands
Micronesia, Federated States of
New Zealand
Papua New Guinea
Samoa
Solomon Islands
Tuvalu
Vanuatu
High Medium Low
Negligible
10.5% 10.5%
57.9% 21%
7.4% 18.5% 74%
itself. Women cannot take equal citizenship for granted
as they may lose their right to retain nationality in case
of a marriage to a foreign national. Figure 5 shows that
38.5% 43 per cent of countries in South 34.6% Asia deny 4% women,
married to foreign nationals, their right to acquire, retain
or renounce nationality. In the Pacific, 36 per cent of
the countries follow 41.4% similar discriminatory 17% nationality
laws. East Asia’s record in upholding women’s nationality
rights is better than South Asia or the Pacific as 22 per
cent countries discriminate against women12.5% married to
foreign men. Based on the patriarchic notion that men
are the automatic “head of the family”, it is assumed that
everything should flow through 33.3% them. Some 11.1% countries
deny female citizens the right to determine the nationality
of children born from a foreign spouse. While foreign
48.9%
8.5%
spouses of women do not have the right to obtain
citizenship, male citizens do not face similar constraints.
20% 32% 32% 16%
9.4% 15.6% 53.1% 22%
75%
87.5%
12.5% 12.5%
33% 55.6% 11.1%
55.6%
40.4% 48.9% 10.6%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Figure 5: Some Countries Continue to Have Discriminatory Nationality Provisions
Equal rights Unequal rights
16 Enforcing Rights and Correcting Wrongs
East Asia
South Asia
Paci�c