Joint Submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child at the 88th Pre-Sessional Working Group. Civil society submission on the right of every child to acquire and preserve a nationality under Article 7 and 8 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in accordance with the Guiding Principles to the Convention Oman Introduction 1. The Omani Association for Human Rights, the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights and the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (the Institute) welcome the opportunity to make this submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (hereafter the Committee) regarding Oman’s compliance towards every child’s right to acquire a nationality under Article 7 and preserve their nationality under Article 8 CRC. This submission also draws on the Guiding Principles of the Convention, in particular, the freedom from discrimination (Article 2) and the Best Interests of the Child (Article 3). Annex I to this submission contains the relevant legislative provisions of Oman, for ease of reference of the Committee. Annex II to this submission highlights Oman’s international obligations. Annex III includes previous recommendations made to the State. Annex IV provides information about the co-submitting organisations. 2. This submission has been structured to raise the issue of realising the right of every child to acquire a nationality. Suggested questions for Oman for consideration of the Committee to include in its List of Issues and in its review can be found in a textbox under each substantive section. Recommendations, which may be drawn on by the Committee’s Concluding Observations are listed at the end of the submission. This submission draws on the extensive work and research carried out by the co-submitting organisations, including in previous joint submissions to the Universal Periodic Review.1 3. Many of the challenges raised through this submission are longstanding and have not been addressed by the government of Oman despite numerous previous recommendations by the Committee and other human rights treaty bodies, the Universal Periodic Review, and by national, regional and international civil society groups. Oman has not met its obligations to protect every child’s right to acquire and preserve their nationality; to avoid statelessness; to not discriminate against children in relation to the exercise of their right to a nationality on the basis of protected characteristics of the child, their parents or guardians; and to take the best interests of the child as a primary consideration in relation to the exercise of these rights. 1 Joint UPR submission available at: files.institutesi.org/UPR37_Oman.pdf. 1