2020 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 2(2) On Kazakhstan and other states in the region, it simply recommended to ‘take measures to address statelessness’. 140 Despite the general nature of such recommendations, they could be seen as a starting point that obligations regarding the right to nationality is not interpreted as only abstaining from violations. Moreover, the Committee has also recommended states to ensure stateless persons have access to health care, education and employment services. 141 In particular, the Committee has used its group-specific General Recommendations to emphasise the call for positive measures. On ‘racial discrimination against people of African descent’, it ‘observes that overcoming the structural discrimination … calls for the urgent adoption of special measures’. 142 In order to improve the situation of Roma communities, the Committee recommended taking a number of special measures to improve living conditions and participation in public life, on top of a list of other ‘regular’ measures. 143 For instance, it recommended the Russian Federation improve the socio-economic situation of Roma communities by special measures to facilitate their access to, inter alia, citizenship. 144 It made a similar comments on Roma populations in Lithuania and Macedonia, among others. 145 Judging from this language, solving statelessness is more than a goal in itself; it is, rather, an acknowledgment that citizenship is needed to improve the situation of particular groups. Having established that there is indeed an obligation to actively ensure equal enjoyment of the right to a nationality, it would be interesting to see then what sort of measures countries are required to take. 140 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Concluding Observations on the 141 142 143 144 145 Combined Sixth and Seventh Periodic Reports of Kazakhstan, UN Doc CERD/C/KAZ/CO/67 [19]; Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Concluding Observations on the Combined Eighth and Ninth Periodic Reports of Uzbekistan, UN Doc CERD/C/UZB/CO/8-9 (14 March 2014) [20]; Concluding Observations: Tajikistan, UN Doc CERD/C/TJK/CO/6-8 (n 99) [14]; Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties under Article 9 of the Convention: Concluding Observations: Turkmenistan, UN Doc CERD/C/TKM/CO/6-7 (13 April 2012) [17]. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Concluding Observations on the Combined Twenty-Third and Twenty-Fourth Periodic Reports of Magnolia, UN Doc CERD/C/MNG/CO/23-24 (17 September 2019) [15], [16]. GR 34, UN Doc CERD/C/GC/34 (n 86). Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, General Recommendation No 27 on Discrimination against Roma, UN Doc A/55/18 (16 August 2000) annex V (‘GR 27’) [28], [29], [41]. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Concluding Observations on the Twentieth to Twenty-Second Periodic Reports of the Russian Federation, UN Doc CERD/C/RUS/CO/20-22 (1 March 2013) [15]. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Concluding Observations on the Combined Sixth to Eighth Periodic Reports of Lithuania, UN Doc CERD/C/LTU/CO/6-8 (6 January 2016) [22]; Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Concluding Observations on the Combined Eighth to Tenth Periodic Reports of the Former Yuglosav Republic of Macedonia, UN Doc CERD/C/MKD/CO/8-10 (21 September 2015) [20]; Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties under Article 9 of the Convention: Concluding Observations: Italy, UN Doc CERD/C/ITA/CO/16-18 [24]. 242