2020 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 2(2) In conclusion, where deprivation of nationality is an explicit ‘breach of States Parties’ obligations’, GR 30 recommends states to ensure non-discrimination with regard to access to citizenship or naturalisation. 124 The Concluding Observations show that there are cases in which the Committee seems to suggest that not granting citizenship on the basis of a person’s race, colour, descent and national or ethnic origin is a breach of the ICERD, in particular, when it is clear that the group or member of such group that is discriminated against has a genuine and effective link to that state. The Committee seems to have a strong focus on result, rather than the form. Concerning ethnicity included in citizenship legislation, the formulation that the Committee uses to emphasise non-discrimination indicates that the Committee is most concerned with the outcome of legislation. The Committee tolerates legislation that includes ethnicity to a limited extent where it does not lead to major issues of statelessness, but obliges states to ensure that differentiating provisions ‘do not give rise to discrimination’. 125 In the next Part, we will look at further measures member states should take to eliminate statelessness. POSITIVE OBLIGATIONS TO ELIMINATE STATELESSNESS The key article on obligations in the ICERD is art 2, which calls for special and concrete measures. Taking pro-active actions is required as, in many cases, being a minority goes hand-in-hand with socio-economic or other disadvantages, which in itself could put individuals at risk of statelessness. 126 Circumstances can prevent certain groups protected under the ICERD from obtaining citizenship, be it through lack of documentation, illiteracy of its members or disadvantages that make certain groups more vulnerable to statelessness. For example, in states where proof of birth on its territory or other specific documentation is needed in the application procedure for citizenship, individuals may be refused citizenship despite being eligible for it. 127 Generally, the right to nationality under the ICERD entails a duty to, as the Committee states in its GR 30, ‘reduce statelessness, in particular statelessness among children’. 128 One recommendation by the Committee to reduce statelessness is to ratify and implement the Statelessness Conventions. 129 In some cases, reducing statelessness among disadvantaged groups might entail taking measures that target these specific groups, to which the ICERD could be a potential tool. Positive measures could be required when it comes to the right to nationality. More is needed beyond focusing on stateless persons’ lack of nationality, and attention ought to be drawn to equal access to rights in general. 130 124 125 126 127 128 129 GR 30, UN Doc CERD/C/64/Misc.11/Rev.3 (n 13) [4]. Concluding Observations: DRC, UN Doc A/62/18 (n 91) [331]. De Chickera and Whiteman (n 8) 113. Institute of Statelessness and Inclusion (n 1) 26–27. GR 30, UN Doc CERD/C/64/Misc.11/Rev.3 (n 13) [16]. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Concluding Observations on the Combined Twelfth and Thirteenth Periodic Reports of Bosnia and Herzegovina, UN Doc CERD/C/BIH/CO/12-13 (10 September 2018) [30](f); Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Concluding Observations on the Combined Twenty-Second to TwentyFourth Periodic Reports of Poland, UN Doc CERD/C/POL/CO/22-24 (24 September 2019) [25]. 130 De Chickera and Whiteman (n 8) 107. 240