stateless families are often unaware of this entitlement to citizenship, and until recently, there was very limited legal support available to assist children through the application process. To respond to this gap in legal services for stateless children, in 2021 I established the Stateless Legal Clinic at the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, discussed further below. Australia’s International Obligations The two key international instruments that address the issue of statelessness are the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954 Convention) and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (1961 Convention).xliv Australia has ratified both the 1954 Convention and the 1961 Convention, without reservation.xlv Australia is also party to several international agreements that protect the rights of stateless persons and ensure the right to nationality, including: 1. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).xlvi 2. Article 24(3) provides that every child has the right to acquire a nationality. 3. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).xlvii 4. Article 5(d)(iii) provides that States Parties undertake to prohibit and eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee equality before the law in the enjoyment of the right to nationality. 5. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).xlviii 6. Article 9 provides that parties shall grant women equal rights with men to acquire, change or retain their nationality and with respect to the nationality of their children. 7. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).xlix 8. Articles 7 and 8 provide that a child will have the right, from birth, to acquire and preserve their nationality. 9. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).l Article 18 provides that persons with disabilities have the right to acquire and change nationality and must not be deprived of their nationality arbitrarily or on the basis of disability. 30