27. Discrimination: Discrimination in access to nationality is one of the key risk factors for statelessness globally.31 The Committee on the Rights of the Child recently observed that discrimination continues to pose a problem for indigenous and Afro-Colombian children who ‘continue to face discrimination and numerous challenges in accessing…civil registration services and justice.’32 Although lack of documentation does not equate to statelessness, birth registration and other government-issued nationality documentation plays an essential role in nationality confirmation. Without proof of citizenship in a State, a child’s rights to healthcare, an education, family unity, an identity, access to justice, and a nationality, among a host of other rights, is placed in jeopardy. Furthermore, it is of note that even when minorities are able to document their nationality, they ‘face a greater risk of having their nationality disputed.’33 28. Lack of a formal statelessness determination procedure: While Colombia has an obligation to ensure that all persons who have a right to Colombian nationality can exercise this right without any impediment, it should also implement a dedicated statelessness determination procedure to ensure that all stateless persons who live in Colombia (and who do not have a right to Colombian nationality) are identified, protected and offered pathways to facilitated naturalisation. 29. However, Colombia does not at present have a specific procedure for the determination of statelessness. The identification of stateless persons is critical in a country’s ability to guarantee the rights of stateless persons living within its borders. Although, as noted earlier, Colombia has not yet ratified the 1954 Convention, the government has made clear that the convention’s provisions are part of its own national legal framework when it comes to statelessness. Thus, Colombia has the obligation to ‘identify stateless persons in order to accord them appropriate standards of treatment under the Convention.’34 A formal statelessness determination procedure would offer the most effective means to protect the rights of stateless persons who do not have the right to Colombian nationality, and would assist the State in its implementation of its statelessness safeguard.35 It would also allow Colombia to better understand the extent of statelessness on its territory and to better monitor the status and treatment of stateless persons.36 30. In order to determine statelessness in full accordance with the 1954 Convention, a statelessness determination procedure should, according to the UNHCR Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons, be simple, accessible to everyone within the territory, and be fair and efficient.37 The procedure should be formalised in law and observe due process guarantees.38 In compliance with these standards, Colombia’s statelessness determination procedure should provide for a shared burden of proof, the standard of proof should be reduced and applicants should be offered an individual 31 De Chickera, Amal and Joanna Whiteman, ‘Addressing statelessness through the rights to equality and non-discrimination’ in Laura van Waas L and Melanie Khanna (eds), Solving Statelessness, Wolf Legal Publishers, 2016, p. 100; see also Manly, Mark (2007), ‘The Spirit of Geneva – Traditional and New Actors in the Field of Statelessness,’ Refugee Survey Quarterly 26(4): 255-261, p. 256. 32 Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding observations on the combined fourth and fifth periodic reports of Colombia, CRC/C/COL/CO/4-5, 6 March 2015, para. 55 33 U.N. Human Rights Council, Impact of the Arbitrary Deprivation of Nationality on the Enjoyment of the Rights of Children Concerned, and Existing Laws and Practices on Accessibility for Children to Acquire Nationality, Inter Alia, of the Country in Which They Are Born, If They Otherwise Would Be Stateless, 16 December 2015 A/HRC/31/29, para 15, http://www.refworld.org/docid/56c42b514.html 34 UNHCR, Statelessness Handbook, para 144. 35 UNHCR, Good Practices Paper – Action 6: Establishing Statelessness Determination Procedures to Protect Stateless Persons, 11 July 2016, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/57836cff4.html, p. 2. 36 UNHCR, Global Action Plan to End Statelessness, Action 6, 4 November 2014, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/545b47d64.html; UNHCR, Mapping Statelessness in Austria, January 2017, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/58b6e5b14.html, para 125. 37 UNHCR, Statelessness Handbook, paras. 63, 68 and 69. 38 Ibid, para 71. 7