through “a universal, well-managed registration system that is accessible to all”.93 It is the responsibility of the State which has ratified the CRC to ensure its full implementation, as stated in Article 4 and elaborated in GC No. 5.94 The CRC Committee has also held that “[u]niversal free birth registration is a prerequisite” for “barriers to children’s access to health services, including financial, institutional, and cultural barriers, [...to] be identified and eliminated.”95 50. Article 2 ICCPR prohibits discrimination and Article 24(3) ICCPR provides that every child has the right to acquire nationality. In 2017, the Human Rights Committee noted the “continued difficulties faced by internally displaced Roma” on ground such as registering births 96 and recommended that Serbia increase its efforts to facilitate and enable the registration of children whose parents lack identification documents.97 51. Article 5(d)(iii) ICERD contains a further undertaking by State parties to guarantee the right, among others, to nationality. In its General Recommendation No. 27, the ICERD Committee recommended that States review, enact or amend legislation to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination against Roma,98 and ensure that legislation on citizenship and naturalisation do not discriminate against them.99 52. The CEDAW Committee has been willing to recognise that discrimination persists against Romani women and girls. For instance, in the Committee’s view in LA v North Macedonia, it recommended that the State party adopt measures to combat intersecting forms of discrimination against Romani women and girls.100 53. The UN Human Rights Council’s resolution ‘Birth Registration and the Right of Everyone to Recognition Everywhere as a Person Before the Law’ emphasised the importance of birth registration as an official record of a person’s existence and recognition before the law, and expressed concern that unregistered persons would have limited or no access to the services and rights they are entitled to.101 It further called on States to ensure universal, accessible, simple, expeditious and effective registration without discrimination. 54. The intervenors finally note that Serbia was granted candidate status in the EU in 2012.102 Candidate States should aim to comply with standards under EU law, in particular, EU law provisions against discrimination, such as Article 21(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. This Court may also want to consider the findings of the CJEU which held that the respect for private and family life in conjunction with the best interests of the child obliges the immediate registration of children upon birth and the provision of identity documents.103 Committee on the Rights of the Child, General comment No. 7 (2005) on implementing child rights in early childhood, § 25. 94 Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 5 (2003) on general measures of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, p. 4. 95 Committee on the Rights of the Child, General comment No. 15 (2013) on the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, § 29. 96 Human Rights Committee, Concluding Observations on the Third Periodic Report of Serbia (10 April 2017), CCPR/C/SRB/ 3, § 14. 97 ibid, § 15. See also Human Rights Committee, List of Issues in relation to the Fourth Periodic Report of Serbia (3 May 2024), CCPR/C/SRB/Q/4, § 8; Praxis and ENS, ‘Joint Submission to the Universal Periodic Review on Serbia’ (n 8). 98 CEDAW Committee, General Recommendation No. 27 on Discrimination Against Roma, § 1. 99 ibid, § 4. 100 CEDAW Committee, LA v North Macedonia, § 9.8(b)(i) and (vi). See also CEDAW Committee, SB and NB v North Macedonia, § 9(vi). 101 UN Human Rights Council, Resolution A/HRC/RES/52/25 (n 2). 102 See European Commission, ‘Serbia, membership status: candidate country’, at ec.europa.eu. 103 CJEU, Case C-490/20, V.M.A. v. Stolichna obshtina, rayon ‘Pancharevo’, 14 December 2021; CJEU, Case C-2/21, Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich, 24 June 2022. 93 10