Committee on the Rights of the Child, which reviewed South Africa in September 2016, during its 73rd Session.4 The Universal Periodic Review of the Republic of South Africa under the First and Second Cycles 4. South Africa was first subjected to the Universal Periodic Review on 15 April 2008, at Session 1 of the First Cycle, and subsequently on 31 May 2012, at Session 13 of the Second Cycle of the UPR. At this review, there were no recommendations specifically mentioning statelessness and the right to nationality. Related recommendations include removing barriers to birth registration for all children born in South Africa, acceding to core human rights instruments yet unratified, preventing and eliminating xenophobia and discrimination against foreigners and improving detention conditions of undocumented migrants.5 South Africa was commended on its very progressive constitution, and there were various recommendations more generally related to South Africa’s treaty obligations, including under CRC, ICCPR and CAT. 5. Some of the most relevant recommendations under the 2012 UPR include: Recommendation Response by South Africa Complete its accession to the core human ‘Supported’ rights instruments that are still not yet ratified (Iraq);6 Reinforce its efforts to prevent and combat ‘Supported’ racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and other related intolerance in particular against foreigners (Iran);7 Improve the detention conditions of undocumented migrants, ensure that they are not detained and deprived of their liberty for prolonged periods and that they have all services available, including access to health, psychological assistance, and appropriate physical infrastructure and sanitation (Ecuador);8 4 ‘Supported’. However, South Africa also responded that: All the South African deportation centres are, by law, required to comply with international standards. There are inspectorate mechanisms in place and in the event that deportees are to be held for periods more than 30 days a requisite court order must be obtained from a competent court. The challenges of prolonged deprivation of liberty are accentuated by lack of proper identification documents for which cooperation with the countries of origin is imperative. The ISI, LHR joint submission to the CRC can be accessed here: http://www.institutesi.org/CRC_SouthAfrica_2015.pdf 5 See the Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: South Africa, 9 July 2012, A/HRC/21/16, available at: https://documents-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G12/151/29/PDF/G1215129.pdf?OpenElement 6 Ibid., para 124.1. 7 Ibid., para 124.38. 8 Ibid., para 124.58.