The Institute has made over 90country specific UPR submissions on the human rights of stateless persons. ISI has also compiled summaries of the key human rights challenges related to statelessness in all countries under review under the 23rd to the 40th UPR Sessions. 5. This submission focuses on: I. II. III. IV. Statelessness determination and access to rights Liberty and security of the person and arbitrary detention Children’s right to a nationality The protection of stateless people and people at risk of statelessness fleeing the war in Ukraine Previous UPR and UN Treaty bodies’ recommendations to the Czech Republic 6. The Czech Republic was previously reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review during the 28th session in 2017 (Third Cycle), the 14th session in 2012 (Second Cycle), and the 1st session in 2008 (First Cycle). In the Third Cycle, the Czech Republic received a recommendation from Belarus to ‘ensure that the national practice on providing asylum is in line with international standards on the protection of migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons’5, and it has already received a similar recommendation from Belarus in the Second Cycle.6 7. During the First Cycle, the Czech Republic received five recommendations to implement measures to counter discrimination and to protect the rights of ethnic minorities, especially Roma.7 8. In 2021, the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) recommended that the Czech Republic 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 CRC also recommended that the Czech Republic withdraws its declarations in relation to the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954 Convention).8 9. In 2019, the Human Rights Committee recommended that the Czech Republic introduce an internationally accepted definition of a stateless person so as to increase transparency and facilitate more effective handling of statelessness applications, and establish a dedicated and effective statelessness determination procedure with specific procedural considerations and safeguards. It also recommended that the Czech 5Human Rights Council (HRC), Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, Czech Republic, 27 December 2017, A/HRC/37/4, para 115.185. 6 HRC, Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, Czech Republic, 26 December 2012, A/HRC/22/3, para 94.116. 7 HRC, Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, Czech Republic, 23 May 2008, A/HRC/8/33 (recommendations nos. 2, 15, 21, 24, 28 and 30) 8 Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Concluding observations on the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Czechia, 22 October 2021, CRC/C/CZE/CO/5-6, (recommendation no. 21). See also CRC, Concluding observations on the combined third and fourth period report of the Czech Republic, 4 August 2011, CRC/C/CZE/CO/3-4 (recommendation no. 38). 2