Foreword Every child has the right to a nationality – the recognition of a fundamental legal relationship between the child and a state. This right is stated in Article 7 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the 30th anniversary this year. Despite this milestone, it is estimated that a third of the millions of stateless people globally are children. A child without a nationality faces incredible disadvantage, vulnerability and marginalization. This lack of formal recognition by the state results in the denial of health care, education and other basic government services. Statelessness means that children often have no voice in their societies. Stateless children can be invisible to the authorities, as if they never existed. statelessness because of discrimination, often facing racism and hostility from a particularly vulnerable group who may not have citizenship – or may have their citizenship stripped – placing them at risk of becoming stateless and invisible. The right to a nationality is protected under international law. It is a foundational right of international human rights law recognized in the Universal Declaration of to a nationality, “in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless”. To help make this right a reality for every child, UNICEF has partnered with the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI) to raise understanding of childhood statelessness and what can be done to rectify this violation of children’s rights. ISI is a non-governmental human rights organization dedicated to working on statelessness at the global level, to promote inclusive societies by realizing and protecting the right to a nationality. 4