Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.21 Therefore, while states are generally still free to regulate access to nationality as they see fit, international law now imposes certain limits on this freedom and provides important tools to ensure that no one is left stateless.22 The same body of human rights law is also highly relevant to the question of protection – of how states should treat people who nevertheless end up stateless. According to international law, nationality is no longer the primary basis for the enjoyment of rights. States must respect and protect the human rights of all persons under their jurisdiction, including non-nationals. There are a few exceptions, where rights are specifically ascribed to “citizens” under international law.23 Stateless persons may be excluded from such rights as are reserved to citizens but should enjoy all other human rights without discrimination.24 This legal framework is complemented by the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons that deals specifically with a number of issues regarding the rights of stateless persons.25 2.1 Human rights law ASEAN states have expressed their commitment to address statelessness and its consequences through their ratification of a range of international human rights instruments. All are, for instance, state parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). This instrument elaborates the right of every child to a nationality – as well as the right to be registered at birth, a valuable tool in the prevention of statelessness – in its article 7.26 It furthermore provides for the non-discriminatory enjoyment of rights by all children, regardless of their nationality or statelessness.27 Similarly, all ASEAN states have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Article 9 explicitly provides for the equal enjoyment of nationality rights by men and women, including in the context of marriage (paragraph 1) and in transmitting nationality to their children (paragraph 2).28 In addition, more than half of ASEAN countries are state parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).29 The ICCPR provides for the right of every child to acquire a nationality.30 The CERD prohibits racial discrimination in the enjoyment of a catalogue of rights, including the right to a nationality.31 By ratifying these key human rights instruments, ASEAN countries have not only committed to uphold the fundamental rights of persons within their jurisdiction, they have also agreed to the monitoring of their efforts by the relevant UN treaty bodies. As such, institutions such as the CRC and the CEDAW Committees have provided comments on countries’ policy and practice in areas relating to statelessness. 21 For a full description of the importance, content and approach of this instrument see UNHCR, Preventing and Reducing Statelessness - The 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 2010. 22 See, for instance, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Case of Yean and Bosico v. Dominican Republic, Series C, Case 130, 8 September 2005. 23 For instance, article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 24 The non-discriminatory enjoyment of rights means that non-nationals may only be subject to different treatment from nationals if this is reasonable and objective, pursues a legitimate aim and is proportionate to that aim. Where the question involves stateless persons, account should also be taken of the particular predicament and vulnerability of the stateless who do not hold any nationality. See, for instance, Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 31: Nature of the General Legal Obligations Imposed on States Parties to the Covenant, 26 May 2004; and Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, General Recommendation 30: Discrimination against non-citizens, 1 October 2004. 25 In particular, the 1954 Convention provides for certain special measures such as the issuance of identity and travel documents to stateless persons and the possibility of facilitated naturalisation. For a full description of the importance, content and approach of this instrument see UNHCR, Protecting the Rights of Stateless Persons – The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, 2010. 26 Note that two ASEAN countries, Malaysia and Thailand, currently maintain a reservation to this article of the CRC. 27 Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 6: Treatment of unaccompanied and separated children outside their country of origin, 1 September 2005. 28 Note that two ASEAN countries, Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia, currently maintain a reservation to article 9 (2) of CEDAW regarding the equality of women with men with respect to the nationality of their children. Singapore and Thailand both also initially adopted reservations to article 9 (2) of CEDAW, but have since withdrawn these following amendments to their nationality laws. 29 The ASEAN countries that have ratified these two instruments are Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. 30 Article 24 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights deals with the right to a nationality. 31 Article 5 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. 5