Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion & Research Team from Maastricht University Joint Submission to the Human Rights Council at the 32nd Session of the Universal Periodic Review Republic of Cyprus Introduction 1. The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion and a research team from Maastricht University make this joint submission to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in relation to the right to nationality and subsequent access to human rights (including children’s rights) in the Republic of Cyprus (RoC). 2. The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion1 is an independent non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting an integrated, human rights based response to the injustice of statelessness and exclusion. Established in August 2014, it is the first and only global centre committed to promoting the human rights of stateless persons and ending statelessness. The Institute has made over 30 country specific UPR submissions on the human rights of stateless persons, and also compiled summaries of the key human rights challenges related to statelessness in all countries under review under the 23rd to the 30th UPR Sessions.2 3. The research team from Maastricht University3 has conducted field and desk research on the subject of the child’s right to nationality in the Republic of Cyprus, from August 2017 to May 2018. The research focused on the northern part of the island, also referred to as either “occupied area” or “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus [TRNC]”. The research included three periods of field research, around 175 qualitative interviews with: experts (researchers and NGO employees), politicians, parents, children and young adults, and around 30 observations. Most people interviewed were Turkish Cypriot and/or living on the north side of the island, yet also a few visits and interviews were done in the South with Greek Cypriot experts. Because a large number of the respondents were adults, who both looked back at their childhood experience as well as reflected on their current situation, the research findings go beyond specifically children’s rights issues only. The results will be published in a forthcoming report on the child’s right to nationality in the TRNC, working title “Deleted off the map: the child’s right to nationality in northern Cyprus”, expected September 2018.4 4. This submission draws heavily on the field research of the team from Maastricht University, and therefore focuses specifically on the large issue of discrimination of Cypriot people living on the 1 For more information about ISI, please see www.institutesi.org/ 2 For more information on the Institute’s UPR advocacy, see http://www.statelessnessandhumanrights.org/upr-universalperiodic-review/resources-database. 3 The research team for this case study consists of 6 young researchers and is led by PhD researcher Marieke Hopman. For more information, see www.childrensrightsresearch.com. 4 The research and upcoming report will be referred to in this submission as “Hopman et al. (forthcoming)”.