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Theme Key

  • Stateless Persons
  • Nationality
  • Children
  • Discrimination
  • Implementing measures

Number of results found: 2020

Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

Czechia

21. The Committee recommends that the State party facilitate the acquisition of citizenship for children who would otherwise be Stateless, regardless of their parents’ citizenship, residence or marital status, and encourage parents of Stateless children to apply for citizenship on their...

21. The Committee recommends that the State party facilitate the acquisition of citizenship for children who would otherwise be Stateless, regardless of their parents’ citizenship, residence or marital status, and encourage parents of Stateless children to apply for citizenship on their behalf. The Committee also recommends that the State party consider withdrawing its declarations in relation to the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons.

Born on territory International Instruments
Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

Switzerland

21. Recalling its previous recommendations, the Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Ensure that all children born in the State party, irrespective of their parents’ legal status, have access to birth registration and are entitled to a nationality at birth, or subject to a...

21. Recalling its previous recommendations, the Committee recommends that the State party:

(a) Ensure that all children born in the State party, irrespective of their parents’ legal status, have access to birth registration and are entitled to a nationality at birth, or subject to a significantly reduced residence requirement if otherwise stateless, and that parents without regular residence status who register their children are not reported to migration authorities;

(b) Consider acceding to the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, the European Convention on Nationality and the Council of Europe Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in relation to State Succession.

Born on territory Birth registration International Instruments
Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

Eswatini

33. Taking note of target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals, the Committee reiterates its previous concluding recommendations and urges the State party to: (a) Harmonize civil registration laws with the Children’s Protection and Welfare Act; (b) Address administrative barriers to...

33. Taking note of target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals, the Committee reiterates its previous concluding recommendations and urges the State party to:

(a) Harmonize civil registration laws with the Children’s Protection and Welfare Act;

(b) Address administrative barriers to birth registration, including by continuing its efforts to ensure a free, timely and simplified process and to establish a countrywide system of birth registration in health facilities and a system of e-registration;

(c) Increase public awareness about the importance and process of birth registration in communities, as well as incentives, including with the support of traditional authorities and religious leaders.

35. Recalling its previous concluding observations and taking note of target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals, the Committee recommends that the State party urgently finalize the reform of the legislation on nationality, including the adoption of the citizenship bill, and implement the national action plan on eradicating statelessness, to ensure that a child can derive nationality also from the mother and that children born in the State party are not at risk of being stateless.

Born on territory Birth registration Gender Legislative/Judicial/Administrative action
Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW)

Rwanda

38.         The Committee recommends that the State party:                (a)          Ensure that all children of Rwandan migrant workers born abroad are registered at birth and issued with identity documents at consular services, and that birth registration is facilitated and free of...

38.         The Committee recommends that the State party:

               (a)          Ensure that all children of Rwandan migrant workers born abroad are registered at birth and issued with identity documents at consular services, and that birth registration is facilitated and free of charge everywhere and under all circumstances, in accordance with target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals;

               (b)          Raise awareness of the importance of birth registration among migrant workers and members of their families, especially those in an irregular situation;

               (c)          Set up clear statelessness determination procedures and ease access to citizenship, given the critical role that nationality plays in the treatment of all persons especially migrants workers.

42.       In line with the recommendations for addressing women’s human rights in the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration, the Committee recommends that the State party: (...)

(c)           Ensure individual identity documentation is provided to all migrant women and girls and wives or partners of migrant workers, specifically with the aim of ensuring access to services required to protect and guarantee their rights.

Identification and determination procedures (Forced) migration context Access to nationality/Naturalization Nationality/Identity documentation Born abroad Birth registration

Myanmar

47. An estimated 600,000 vulnerable, stateless Rohingya still live in Rakhine State, including some 130,000 whom the government has confined to IDP camps in central Rakhine since 2012. The cumulative effect of the armed conflict, COVID-19, and attendant measures comprising curfews and other...

47. An estimated 600,000 vulnerable, stateless Rohingya still live in Rakhine State, including some 130,000 whom the government has confined to IDP camps in central Rakhine since 2012. The cumulative effect of the armed conflict, COVID-19, and attendant measures comprising curfews and other movement restrictions as well as mobile data/internet shutdowns, exposes already vulnerable populations (including IDPs in protracted situation and ongoing new displaced populations), to even greater risks, and significantly impacts access to livelihoods and essential services. While restrictions on movement affected all communities, the Rohingya faced additional obstacles/threats – for instance, when seeking safety or accessing life-saving services at night – due to pre-existing movement restrictions. The pandemic exacerbated longstanding prejudices and negative rhetoric against the Rohingya in Rakhine State (i.e. in relation to “illegal” cross-border movements) accompanied by increased calls for the Government to control the country’s borders.

55. No tangible progress was reported in improving the situation of the Rohingya with regard to their legal status and right to a nationality, or restoring citizenship in line with the Government of Myanmar’s endorsed Advisory Commission on Rakhine State recommendations. Without reform of the 1982 Citizenship Law, discrimination based on an applicant’s ethnicity – in both law and practice – continues to impede the acquisition of citizenship documentation among minority groups, with the Rohingya being the most affected.

56. Citizenship remains inaccessible to almost all Rohingya. The citizenship process continues to lack transparency and involve prohibitively high unofficial fees and burdensome evidentiary and administrative requirements. Recent trends also indicate that the Rohingya are being issued Naturalized citizenship even when eligible for full citizenship. Access to civil and citizenship documentation remains challenging countrywide, with ethnic and religious minority groups being the most, but not exclusively, affected. Several reports have highlighted numerous barriers faced by different groups across Myanmar in obtaining nationality documents, including logistical, gender-based, administrative, and cost, as well as parallel administrative systems in non-governmental controlled areas (NGCA). Measures aimed at improving access to citizenship documents, such as streamlined procedures and mobile missions, apply exclusively to persons from the 135 officially recognized ethnic groups, despite that the origins and legal nature of the “official” list remain dubious. The burden of proof rests fully on the applicant, and officers mandated to determine nationality have a high discretion on the type and number of documents that they can request the applicant to submit. This results in a complex, lengthy, time consuming, and at times arbitrary and discriminatory, process preventing disadvantaged and vulnerable groups from realizing their right to nationality.

60. In central Rakhine State, 130,000 people, the vast majority of whom are stateless Rohingya, 54 percent of whom are children, were confined to what can best be described as desolate internment camps. Under the best of circumstances, they had extremely limited access to healthcare, even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, an estimated 600,000 Rohingya live in Rakhine State under highly repressive conditions that severely limit their ability to move or make a living, let alone access health care or education for their children. Conditions for Rohingya in Rakhine State appear designed to be destructive to the survival of the community.

86. The Special Rapporteur’s recommendations after the restoration of a legitimate government include:

(e) Address the unresolved issues involving ethnic minority states and communities including justice for the Rohingya ethnic community;

(g) Lift all restrictions arbitrarily imposed and enforced on Rohingya that, taken as a whole, create conditions that are destructive to the Rohingya, including, but not limited to, restrictions on freedom of movement, health, education, livelihoods, and equal access to citizenship;

 

Protection/Enjoyment of rights Lack of documents/Access to documentation Remedy/Reparation Race/Ethnicity Legislative/Judicial/Administrative action
Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

Tunisia

18. The Committee welcomes the repeal in 2020 of Circular No. 85 of 1965, which had prohibited the civil registration of newborns with an Amazigh or other non-Arabic name, but it is concerned about the administrative and judicial barriers faced by parents who do not register their children...

18. The Committee welcomes the repeal in 2020 of Circular No. 85 of 1965, which had prohibited the civil registration of newborns with an Amazigh or other non-Arabic name, but it is concerned about the administrative and judicial barriers faced by parents who do not register their children within 10 days of birth. Taking note of target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals, the Committee recommends that the State party:

(a) Remove all administrative and financial barriers faced by children in gaining access to birth registration and receiving birth certificates, including by allowing for late registration without a judicial appeal;

(b) Ensure that all children, including migrant children, children with non-Arabic names and children who were born prior to the repeal of Circular No. 85 of 1965, have access to birth registration and identity documents, regardless of their parents’ residency status.

Nationality/Identity documentation Birth registration
Universal Periodic Review (UPR) 3rd

Singapore

59.31 Accede to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, enact national legislation on asylum in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, accede to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the...

59.31 Accede to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, enact national legislation on asylum in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, accede to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. 

Recommending State: Argentina

Recommendation Noted

International Instruments
Universal Periodic Review (UPR) 3rd

Sierra Leone

143.259 Continue to strengthen civil registration mechanisms. 

143.259 Continue to strengthen civil registration mechanisms. 

Recommending State: Angola

Recommendation Accepted

Birth registration
Universal Periodic Review (UPR) 3rd

Sierra Leone

143.251 Strengthen the nationwide structures responsible for registration of births, with a view to achieving the timely registration of all births and the clearing of backlogs with respect to unregistered children. 

143.251 Strengthen the nationwide structures responsible for registration of births, with a view to achieving the timely registration of all births and the clearing of backlogs with respect to unregistered children. 

Recommending State: Botswana

Recommendation Accepted

Birth registration
Universal Periodic Review (UPR) 3rd

Sierra Leone

143.260 Strengthen civil registration mechanisms to guarantee proceeding with the late registration of births. 

143.260 Strengthen civil registration mechanisms to guarantee proceeding with the late registration of births. 

Recommending State: Chile

Recommendation Accepted

Birth registration