tilburg law review 19 (2014) 98-107 brill.com/tilr Stateless Indigenous People(s) The Right to a Nationality, Including Their Own Willem van Genugten Professor of International Law, Tilburg University and North-West University South-Africa (extraordinary chair) W.J.M.vanGenugten@tilburguniversity.edu Anna Meijknecht Assistant Professor, International Law, Tilburg University A.K.Meijknecht@tilburguniversity.edu Bas Rombouts Teacher, Department of Labour Law and Social Policy, Tilburg University S.J.Rombouts@tilburguniversity.edu Abstract According to the 2007 UN Declaration on the Right of Indigenous Peoples, every indigenous individual has the right to a nationality. The present paper focuses on the right to a nationality as a ‘gateway’ to the recognition of a plurality of other rights. Doing so, two issues are given special attention: 1) the lack of adequate birth registration and the consequences of this ‘false start’ for other rights, such as, again, the right to a nationality. 2) The recognition of indigenous identity papers: while regularly Indigenous Peoples do not want to establish an independent sovereign State, many of them strive for the recognition of their own Indigenous identity papers. The paper discusses some of the advantages and consequences thereof. Keywords nationality – birth registration – indigenous identity papers © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2014 | doi 10.1163/22112596-01902028