Romania’s International Obligations 10. With a positive record of accession to human rights instruments, Romania has international obligations to protect the right to a nationality and protect the rights of stateless persons. Romania acceded to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954 Convention) in 2006. The 1954 Convention has direct effect in Romanian law, but Romania retains a number of significant reservations, including that Romania reserves the right to provide public relief only to stateless refugees (Article 23), to grant identity papers only to stateless people with a residence permit (Article 27), and to expel a stateless person staying lawfully on the territory if they commit a criminal offence (Article 31). Romania has also been a State Party to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (1961 Convention) since 2006, with no reservations. 11. Romania also has international obligations to protect the right to a nationality and the rights of stateless persons on the basis of other UN and regional treaties to which it is a party. These include, among others: 12 • • • • • • • • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (see article 24.3) International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) (see articles. 2.2 and article 3) Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) (see articles 2, 3, 7 and 8) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) (see article 9) International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) (see article 5(d)(iii)) Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (see article 18) Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Trafficking Protocol) Furthermore, the right to a nationality is included in Article 15 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. 12. At regional level, Romania is a State Party to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and a State Party to the European Convention on Nationality, but retains some reservations relating to the latter.13 Romania is bound by the EU Returns Directive and is party to all other relevant regional and international human rights treaties (with no relevant reservations), except the Council of Europe Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in Relation to State Succession and the International Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. 13. Romania did not make any pledges at the UNCHR High Level Segment on Statelessness.14 12 UN Treaty Body Database, View the ratification status by country or by treaty: https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?CountryID=143&Lang=EN 13 Law no. 396 of 14 June 2002 on the ratification of the European Convention on Nationality, adopted in Strasbourg on 6 November 1997: http://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/37144. 14 UNHCR, #IBelong, Results of the High-Level Segment on Statelessness: https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/results-of-the-highlevel-segment-on-statelessness/. 3