foreign nationals".7 This was reasoned on the basis that:
I.
the nationality and citizenship of children born of stateless parents is regulated by
domestic law;
II.
national security policy needs to balance foreign nationals, stateless persons and
migrants; and
III.
"these laws and policy documents fully support the rights of stateless persons under the
Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Person and the Convention on the Reduction
of Statelessness".8
Mongolia's International Obligations
11. Mongolia is not a party to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons or the
1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. It is, however, a party to a number of other
international human rights treaties that provide for the right to a nationality, as set out below.
12. Mongolia ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination (CERD), which provides for equal enjoyment of the right to nationality in its article
5(d)(iii), on 6 August 1969; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW) on 20 July 1981; the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on 5
July 1990 and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 13 May 2009.
13. In its concluding observations of 12 July 2017, while noting the high rate of birth registration
reported by the State party, the Committee on the Rights of the Child drew the attention to target
16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals on providing a legal identity for all, including birth
registration, and recommended that Mongolia:
I.
"Strengthen efforts to provide all children with a legal identity through birth registration,
including Kazakh children, those who migrate within the territory of the State party and
those who were born at home or without midwife support;
II.
Take all necessary measures to grant Mongolian citizenship to all children residing in the
State party who would otherwise be stateless, particularly Kazakh children who have
returned to Mongolia;
III.
Consider ratifying the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons of 1954 and
the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness of 1961 and bring its legislation in line
with these international instruments."9
14. In its concluding observations of 5 September 2016, the Committee against Torture stated:
7
Ibid, para 10.
Ibid.
9 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of Mongolia, 75th sess, UN
Doc CRC/C/MNG/CO/5 (12 July 2017) p5.
8
3