The Universal Periodic Review of Serbia under the First and Second Cycle (2008 and 2013) 7. Serbia was subject to the UPR under the first cycle in 2008 and under the second cycle in 2013. During the first cycle of review, Austria recommended that Serbia should “strengthen measures to ensure registration of all Roma in Serbia.”6 Serbia accepted the recommendation and pointed to the draft law on the procedure of recognition of legal personality, whose purpose was recognition of legal personality in a simple and effective procedure. 8. In 2013, under the second cycle, three recommendations7 were made to Serbia regarding statelessness and birth registration. Mexico recommended that Serbia should “(c)arry out necessary measures, including legislative amendments, to ensure that all persons born in Serbia have access to birth registration regardless of the status of their parents.”8 Brazil recommended taking “appropriate measures to ensure that basic civil and political rights of Roma are being assured and that birth registration is available and accessible for all children without discrimination.”9 Austria recommended “facilitating registration in the birth registry for Roma, allowing them to register using a provisional address”.10All the mentioned recommendations enjoy the support of Serbia, which contended that they are “already implemented or in the process of implementation.”11 Serbia’s International Obligations 9. Serbia is a party to all core international human rights instruments containing provisions related to statelessness and nationality, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, 1966) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989). In addition to guarantees of the right to nationality, both the ICCPR and CRC contain provisions that oblige Serbia to ensure the timely birth registration of every child immediately after birth. Serbia ratified both the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Furthermore, Serbia is a state party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD, 1965), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, 1979) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD, 2006). However, it has not ratified, nor signed the European Convention on Nationality (ECN, 1997). 10. Serbia has additional international and regional obligations to protect the liberty and security of all persons and to protect against arbitrary and unlawful detention. These obligations derive from ICCPR (Article 9) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR, Article 5). 6 UN General Assembly, Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Serbia, A/HRC/10/78, 8 January 2009, para. 22. 7 Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, Serbia, A/HRC/23/15, Human Rights Council, 22 March 2013, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G13/125/18/PDF/G1312518.pdf?OpenElement. 8 Ibid, para. 132.8. 9 Ibid, para. 132.93. 10 Ibid, para. 132.96. 11 Ibid, para. 132. 3