the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and for harmonization of the legislation with the relevant international standards. The Government had been jointly implementing a project with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to register stateless persons and persons without identity documents. More than two dozen mobile units had been operating in rural areas, providing legal advice on how to apply for citizenship or for obtaining relevant documents free of charge." Kyrgyzstan's International Obligations 9. Kyrgyzstan, as a member State of the United Nations (UN), is obliged by the UN Charter to promote ‘universal respect for, and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion’.6 These human rights and fundamental freedoms are specified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), including Article 15 on the right to a nationality, many of which are also recognised as principles of customary international law.7 10. Kyrgyzstan is not a party to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, or the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. 11. Nevertheless, Kyrgyzstan has international obligations to protect the right to a nationality and protect the rights of stateless persons on the basis of other UN and regional treaties to which it is a party. These include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Art. 24.3), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Arts. 2.2 and 2.3), the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its first and second optional protocols (Arts. 2, 3, 7 and 8), the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Art. 5(d)(iii)), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Art. 9) and its Optional Protocol, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (Art. 29), and the Convention Against Torture and its Optional Protocol.8 12. The Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended to Kyrgyzstan in 2014 that it accedes to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.9 The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination also recommended to Kyrgyzstan in 201310 and 201811 that it consider acceding to these two Conventions. 13. In its 2018 Concluding Observations, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination also recommended that Kyrgyzstan:12 6 Charter of the United Nations, art 55(c). According to Article 56 of the Charter, it is the obligation of all member states of the UN to take “joint and separate action in cooperation with the Organization for the achievement of the purposes set forth in Article 55”. 7 Draft Articles on Diplomatic Protection with commentaries’ (2006) II(2) Yearbook of the International Law Commission 49. 8 United Nations General Assembly Human Rights Council, National report submitted in accordance with paragraph 5 of the annex to Human Rights Council resolution 16/21 - Kyrgyzstan, UN Doc A/HRC/WG.6/21/KGZ1 (Report, 5 December 2014) [7]. 9 Concluding observations on the combined third and fourth periodic reports of Kyrgyzstan, Committee on the Rights of the Child, 7 July 2014, CRC/C/KGZ/CO/3-4, [27]. 10 Concluding observations on the fifth to seventh period reports of Kyrgyzstan, Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, 19 April 2013, CERD/C/KGZ/CO/5-7, [22]. 11 Concluding observations on the combined eighth to tenth period reports of Kyrgyzstan, Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, 30 May 2018, CERD/C/KGZ/CO/8-10, [30]. 12 Concluding observations on the combined eighth to tenth period reports of Kyrgyzstan, Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, 30 May 2018, CERD/C/KGZ/CO/8-10, [30]. 3