What needs to be done? States, with the support of others, need to identify populations at heightened risk of statelessness due to lack of birth registration and address legal and practical barriers to registration. Promoting birth registration within these groups is key and this can be achieved by improving access to procedures, deploying mobile registration teams and linking birth registration to other public services like health care and education. States should also collaborate with partners such as UNICEF and the World Bank to enhance civil registration systems. Additionally, legal aid and awareness campaigns can help stateless persons or those at risk of statelessness to navigate the registration process. How can UNHCR support? • • • Help States to identify populations for whom lack of birth registration creates a heightened risk of statelessness, as well as legal, procedural and practical obstacles to registering births, including those encountered at community level. Promote birth registration among populations identified as being at heightened risk of statelessness, including by facilitating access to procedures at community level, deploying mobile teams to address existing deficits and ensuring interoperability between birth registration and other public programs such as those relating to childbirth, maternal and infant care, immunization and education. Complement the efforts of UNICEF, UN regional commissions, UNFPA, WHO, UNDP, the World Bank, • • regional development banks and bilateral donors, including in the context of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, to promote and provide technical support for birth registration and to improve civil registration and vital statistics systems. Support the provision of information, legal aid and documentation campaigns to assist stateless persons and persons at risk of statelessness with applications for birth registration. For populations which are not otherwise of concern, UNHCR will only become engaged where it is likely in the specific context that nationality may be questioned, giving rise to a heightened risk of statelessness. RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS • • • • • • • • • Article 15, Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 24, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Article 7, Convention on the Rights of the Child Article 18, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Article 29, International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families UNHCR Executive Committee, Conclusion on identification, prevention and reduction of statelessness and protection of stateless persons, N.106 – entire document UNHCR Executive Committee, Conclusion on Civil Registration, N. 111 – entire document UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality: Resolution / Adopted by the Human Rights Council 11 July 2014, A/HRC/RES/26/14 �� entire document UN Human Rights Council, the Right to a Nationality: Women and Children, 16 July 2012, A/HRC/RES/2014 RELEVANT SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS • • • SDG 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. SDG 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. SDG 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. GLOBAL ACTION PLAN TO END STATELESSNESS 2.0 27