Consiglio Italiano per i Rifugiati, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, and European Network on Statelessness Joint Submission to the Human Rights Council at the 34th Session of the Universal Periodic Review Italy Introduction 1. Consiglio Italiano per i Rifugiati (CIR), the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI), and European Network on Statelessness (ENS) make this joint submission to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), on the right to a nationality and human rights challenges pertaining to statelessness in Italy. 2. This submission focuses on various issues relating to the right to a nationality, the protection of stateless people, prevention and reduction of statelessness in Italy. It draws heavily on information and resources presented in ENS’s Statelessness Index 1 country profile on Italy,2 with relevant text being reproduced verbatim, and other sections being paraphrased or summarised from the Index material. 3. Consiglio Italiano per i Rifugiati 3 is an independent, humanitarian and non-profit organisation, founded in 1990 under the patronage of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to coordinate actions in defence of refugees and asylum seekers in Italy. Among CIR’s members and founding organizations we find the most important humanitarian organisations and the main trade union confederations. CIR activities include direct legal assistance, social and psychological counselling to refugees, stateless people and asylum seekers. CIR has developed a specific know-how in supporting vulnerable groups such as victims of torture, SGBV, women and unaccompanied minors. CIR is a member of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), as well as of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) and of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT). CIR is also member of the European Network on Statelessness (ENS). CIR’s headquarters is in Rome and it operates in other 8 Italian regions. It has been working in Northern Africa since 2009. 4. The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion4 is an independent non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting an integrated, human rights-based response to the injustice of statelessness and exclusion. Established in August 2014, it is the first and only global centre committed to promoting the human rights of stateless persons and ending 1See: https://index.statelessness.eu https://index.statelessness.eu/country/italy 3For more information about Consiglio Italiano per I Rifugiati (CIR), see: www.cir-onlus.org 4For more information about the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, see: www.institutesi.org 2See: 1