Joint Submission to the Human Rights Council at the 38th Session of the Universal Periodic Review. SOMALIA Introduction 1. The Somali Women Development Centre (SWDC), the Somaliland Human Rights Centre (SHRC), the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights (GCENR) and the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI) make this joint submission to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), on the right to a nationality and human rights challenges pertaining to statelessness in Somalia. 2. Somali Women Development Centre (SWDC) is a non-profit organization established mid-2000, with the vision to empower Somali women in the socio-economic, cultural and political spheres to live in an environment free from violence. SWDC advocates for human rights through enhancing protection, providing legal aid, and conducting lobbying and advocacy activities to promote gender equality, reconciliation and peace building. 3. Somaliland Human Rights Centre (SHRC) is a non-profit human rights organization established in January 2013 to contribute to the protection and promotion of human rights in Somaliland. SHRC was formed to protect, promote and realize human rights within Somaliland’s nascent democracy. The central policy of SHRC is to create and foster a culture of voluntary human rights activism where committed human rights defenders advocate for human rights. 4. The Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights1 is coalition of national and international organizations working to end gender discrimination in nationality laws so that women and men have the equal right to acquire, change and retain their nationality and the equal right to confer nationality on their spouse and their children. Housed at steering committee member Women’s Refugee Commission, other steering committee members include Equal Rights Trust, Equality Now, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, and Women’s Learning Partnership. 5. The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI) is the first and only human rights NGO dedicated to working on statelessness at the global level. ISI’s mission is to promote inclusive societies by realising and protecting everyone’s right to a nationality. The Institute has made over 70 country specific UPR submissions on the human rights of stateless persons. ISI has also compiled summaries of the key human rights challenges related to statelessness in all countries under review under the 23rd to the 36th UPR Sessions.2 1 2 For more information, see https://equalnationalityrights.org/. For more information, see https://www.institutesi.org/. 1