Moreover, international law, including the universal prohibition against discrimination on account of race, colour, or national or ethnic origin as enunciated in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (article 5), prohibits States from discriminating in nationality matters. Likewise, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (article 9) guarantees that States parties must grant women equal rights as men with respect to nationality. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (article 24) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (article 7) require that States parties ensure that children are registered immediately after birth and acquire a nationality. The latter principles related to children’s rights are also affirmed in the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (article 6). Two international conventions dedicated to statelessness complement international human rights law, with the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (“1954 Convention”) laying the cornerstone of the international protection regime for stateless persons. The 1954 Convention provides the universally accepted legal definition of a stateless person under international law, thereby establishing an internationally-recognized status for stateless persons, extending to them specific rights, for instance, relating to administrative assistance and issuance of identity and travel documents. For its part, the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (“1961 Convention”) sets forth practical obligations that States parties must undertake to prevent and reduce statelessness. One reason that efforts by the UN to address statelessness have been hampered is the relatively low number of States parties to the 1961 Convention and the 1954 Convention.5 The UN must promote ratification/accession of these and other relevant international treaties, including at the regional level. Additional action is also required to ensure full implementation of treaty and other standards relating to the right to a nationality and the human rights of stateless persons. This should include the issuance of authoritative guidance on interpretation of key international standards, particularly by relevant treaty bodies or other supervisory mechanisms of relevant international instruments. 2. Recognize the central role of States and work with affected populations and civil society The UN must take into account that States determine the rules for acquisition, change and loss of nationality, even if State sovereignty and prerogatives on nationality matters are limited by international human rights norms. States generally provide for automatic acquisition of nationality at birth based on jus sanguinis (birth to a national) or jus soli (birth on the territory), a combination of these two principles, or later in life on the basis of other links to the State such as residence. States can therefore prevent statelessness through legislative and other measures to ensure that all children acquire a nationality at birth and that individuals do not become stateless in adulthood. Similarly, States can reduce statelessness through changes to legislation or government policy regarding who is to be considered a national. Facilitated naturalization for stateless persons is another means of reducing statelessness. 5 At the time of publication, the 1954 Convention had 65 States parties while the 1961 Convention had 37. Lists of States parties can be found at http://treaties.un.org/Pages/Treaties.aspx?id=5&subid=A&lang=en. -4-