Legal briefing: Statelessness and the right to respect for private and family life October 2024 that the family is entitled to protection by society and State (Article 23) and that no one shall be subject to arbitrary or unlawful inference with his privacy or family (Article 17). Equally, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)51 provides that children should not be separated from their parents in most cases (Article 9), that children have the right to family reunification (Article 10) and that every child has a right to a private and family life which should be protected by law (Article 16). While these provisions do uphold the right to a private and family life in a general sense, they do not specifically address statelessness and nationality and how these issues interact with the right to a private and family life. There are, however, specific provisions contained in some UN instruments which are dedicated to addressing statelessness (noted below), and so the more general provisions on the right to respect for private and family life do not usually form the basis for statelessness and nationality cases under UN instruments. For example, Article 24(3) of the ICCPR enshrines the right of every child to acquire a nationality. As noted in General Comment No. 17 of the Human Rights Committee, the purpose of this provision is to prevent a child from growing up without a nationality, but it does not convey an absolute obligation on States to grant their nationality to every child born on their territory.52 It does mean, however, that States are required to take every appropriate measure to ensure that every child has a nationality when they are born.53 Article 24(1) provides that a child cannot be discriminated against in terms of the protection they receive from the State, including on the grounds of race or nationality. Similarly, Article 7 of the CRC also provides that every child has a right to a nationality from birth, as well as registration immediately after birth.54 It is under these specific provisions that claims relating to statelessness are usually considered. For example, in Communication No. 2498/2014 of the Human Rights Committee, the author argued that the Dutch authority’s refusal to grant her and her stateless child the ‘child budget’ as she did not have a resident permit was a violation of, inter alia, Article 23 and Article 24 of the ICCPR.55 The Committee found that there was a violation of Article 24(1). It found that the mother and her child were vulnerable due to their statelessness, the mother’s inability to work, and the denial of their applications for 51 UN, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Treaty Series, vol. 1577, p. 3, 20 November 1989, entered into force 15 January 1992. See also UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 14 (2013) ‘on the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration (art. 3, para. 1) UN Doc CRC/C/GC/14. This General Comment elaborates on the preservation of the family environment in the context of the best interests of the child, in paragraphs 58-70, and generally. See also UN Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Joint General Comment No. 4 (2017) ‘regarding the human rights of children in the context of international migration in countries of origin, transit, destination and return’ UN Doc CMW/C/GC/4-CRC/C/GC/23, paragraphs 27-38. In particular, paragraph 27 notes that the right to protection of family life should be respected regardless of the child’s nationality status. General comments serve as an authoritative interpretative tool of the applicable Convention. 52 UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment No.17: Article 24 (Rights of the Child), 7 April 1989, paragraph 8. 53 UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment No.17: Article 24 (Rights of the Child), 7 April 1989, paragraph 8. 54 See also e.g. the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006, Article 2: “Children with disabilities shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by their parents.” See ENS and The AIRE Centre, Litigation Toolkit on Statelessness, Volume I: Impact litigation and judicial mechanisms to effect change, June 2024, p. 31-33 for more information about statelessness in UN treaties. 55 UN Human Rights Committee, Communication No. 2498/2014. 11