5. This submission will focus on the following challenges and concerns relating to every person’s right to acquire nationality in Lesotho: I. Difficulty in accessing birth registration and /or documentation for children born in Lesotho; II. The passing on of citizenship for only one generation born outside of the country; III. Challenges related to acquisition of citizenship of stateless children; IV. Gender discrimination and discrimination based on marital status of parent. Previous UPR of Lesotho under the First and Second Cycle 6. Lesotho was previously reviewed during the 8th and 21st and sessions of the UPR, in 2010 and 2015 respectively. During the first cycle, Lesotho received two recommendations from Canada to include in the Constitution and other legislation, a provision prohibiting discrimination against women in matters such as adoption, marriage, divorce, devolution of property, burial and death. These recommendations were noted by Lesotho. During the second cycle, Lesotho received a recommendation by Latvia to ensure that “birth registration is effectively implemented and enforced by allocating sufficient human and financial resources to the National Identity and Civil Registry Department to promote the effectiveness of birth registration systems and processes”. Mexico made the recommendation to “take measures to ensure the universal registration of births, including through the simplification of necessary requirements and the removal of costs”. Both recommendations were accepted by Lesotho. Lesotho’s International obligations 7. Lesotho acceded to the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness on 24 September 2004. These conventions provide for international obligations to protect the right to a nationality and protect the rights of stateless persons. 8. In addition to the statelessness conventions, Lesotho has also acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which provides under Article 24(23) that every child shall be registered immediately4 and that every child has a right to a nationality.5 On 9 September 1992, Lesotho further acceded to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which contains articles protecting categories of persons from discrimination.6 4 Article 24(2) “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” Adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 19 December 1966. 5 Article 24(3) “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” Adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 19 December 1966. 6 Article 2(2) provides that States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to guarantee that the rights enunciated in the present Covenant will be exercised without discrimination of any kind as to race, colour, sex, 2