Introduction 1. The Liverpool Law Clinic (LLC)1, European Network on Statelessness (ENS)2 and Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI)3 welcome the opportunity to make this submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child regarding the UK’s compliance with the right of every child to acquire a nationality under Article 7 and to preserve their nationality under Article 8 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). This submission also draws on the Guiding Principles of the CRC, including freedom from discrimination (Article 2) and best interests of the child (Article 3). The submission focuses on: I. II. III. IV. The right to acquire a nationality of children born stateless in the UK; Access to protection for stateless migrant and refugee children; The right to birth registration; and Child rights in the context of nationality deprivation. 2. In light of the UK’s obligations under the CRC and the importance of eradicating statelessness as expressed by UNHCR’s #IBelong campaign, the submitting organisations hope the Committee will raise these matters in the List of Issues Prior to Reporting (LOIPR) and address recommendations to the UK Government to further prevent and reduce childhood statelessness. 3. This submission is structured to highlight key challenges faced by children affected by statelessness in the UK, drawing on the work of the co-submitting organisations.4 Each section includes recommended issues to be incorporated into the LOIPR. The submission ends with draft recommendations that may be drawn on by the Committee in formulating its Concluding Observations to the UK. 4. There are three Annexes to this submission: I. Annex I highlights the UK’s international obligations. II. Annex II contains the relevant national law, for ease of reference of the Committee. III. Annex III provides information about the co-submitting organisations. 5. This submission has been endorsed by the following members of ENS: Bail for Immigration Detainees5, British Rohingya Community6, Jesuit Refugee Service UK7 and Kuwaiti Community Association8. 1 See further: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/law/liverpool-law-clinic/statelessness/ See further: www.statelessness.eu 3 See further: www.institutesi.org/ourwork/children.php 4 See for example, #StatelessnessIndex UK country profile: https://index.statelessness.eu/country/united-kingdom; ENS (2015) No Child Should Be Stateless: Ensuring the right to a nationality for children in migration in Europe: https://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/attachments/resources/ENS_Right-to-a-nationality-for-children-inmigration.pdf; Bezzano & Carter (2018) Statelessness in Practice: Implementation of the UK Statelessness Application Procedure: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/media/livacuk/law/4-liverpool-law-clinic/Statelessness,in,Practice.pdf 5 See further: https://www.biduk.org 6 See further: http://britishrohingya.co.uk 7 See further: https://www.jrsuk.net 8 See further: https://www.statelessness.eu/about-us/members/kuwaiti-community-association 2 2