III INDIA’S HUMAN RIGHTS OBLIGATIONS AND NATIONALITY
15. Article 15 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (‘UDHR’) provides that:
‘Everyone has the right to a nationality’. 24
16. As outlined above India is a state party to the following relevant treaties: ICCPR, CEDAW,
ICERD, CRC, and the CRPD. India has entered reservations and/or declarations in relation
to each of these treaties, apart from the CRPD, but not to the provisions relevant for present
purposes. 25
17. These instruments all seek to implement article 15(1) in binding form. They provide
important protections in relation to the right to nationality:
17.1.
The ICCPR, article 24(3): ‘Every child has the right to acquire a nationality’. 26
17.2. ICERD, article 5(d)(iii): ‘States Parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate
racial discrimination in all its forms…notably in the enjoyment of the following
rights…..The right to nationality’. 27
17.3. CRC, article 7 (1): ‘The child shall be registered immediately after birth and
shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality’. 28
17.4. CEDAW, article 9(1): ‘States parties shall grant women equal rights with men
to acquire, change or retain their nationality’. 29
17.5. CRPD, article 18(1)(a): Persons with disabilities ‘[h]ave the right to acquire
and change a nationality and not to be deprived of nationality arbitrarily or on basis of
disability’. 30
24
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, GA Res 217A (III), UN GAOR, 3rd sess, 183rd plen mtg, UN Doc
A/810 (10 December 1948) art 15 (‘UDHR’).
25
See ‘Status of Treaties: International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’, United Nations
Treaty Collection (Web Page, 27 September 2020)
<https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=IV-3&chapter=4&clang=_en> (nb.
India’s reservations for both the ICCPR and the International Covenant on Economic and Social Rights are
contained on this page); ‘Status of Treaties: Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women’, United Nations Treaty Collection (Web Page, 27 September 2020)
<https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=IV-8&chapter=4&lang=en>; ‘Status of
Treaties: International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination’, United Nations
Treaty Collection (Web Page, 27 September 2020)
<https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-2&chapter=4&clang=_en>;
‘Status of Treaties: Convention on the Rights of the Child’, United Nations Treaty Collection (Web Page, 27
September 2020) <https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV11&chapter=4&clang=_en>.
26
ICCPR (n 8) art 24(3).
27
ICERD (n 9) art 5(d)(iii).
28
CRC (n 11) art 7(1).
29
CEDAW (n 10) art 9(1).
30
CRPD (n 12) art 18(1)(a).
6