Rights, which guarantees every person’s right to a nationality and prohibits the arbitrary deprivation of nationality. Ecuador also recommended that Canada ratify the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons.4 All these recommendations were noted. To date, Canada has not ratified either of the Conventions but has set out its position that the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, of which it is a State Party, ‘to a large extent duplicates the 1954 Statelessness Convention and thus there is no need to accede to both; Canadian law contains all necessary safeguards to cover adequately the situation of stateless persons; and Canada has concerns that ratification and subsequent inclusion in Canadian legislation of specific provisions governing the status of stateless persons would encourage stateless persons to come to Canada from other countries (the “pull-factor”), and would encourage persons already in Canada to renounce their citizenship’.5 However, as this submission illustrates, Canada does not have in place adequate legal safeguards to identify and reduce statelessness nor mechanisms to effectively protect stateless persons. 6. Canada also received a recommendation from Uruguay to revise legislation and administrative practices to correct the amendment of birth certificates in which the name of the father is removed for children born out of wedlock.6 This recommendation was noted by Canada. Birth registration is the first step in establishing identity. While incomplete information on a birth certificate does not always result in statelessness, the nationality law of many countries requires that both parents or the father is recognised in order for a person to acquire a nationality. Canada’s International Obligations 7. Canada is not a party to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. 8. Canada acceded to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness in 1978. Canada ratified the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol in 1969. Canada is also a party to core human rights treaties that have provisions related to statelessness and nationality including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, 1976), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, 1976), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD, 1970), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, 1981), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1991) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD, 2010). In addition to guarantees of the right to a nationality, both the ICCPR and CRC contain provisions that oblige Canada to ensure the timely birth registration of every child immediately after birth. 9. Canada became a permanent observer to the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1972 and joined as a member in 1990 by ratifying the OAS Charter. As a State Party to the OAS Charter, Canada is obliged to observe the human rights obligations set out therein, which are represented by the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man. Canada has not ratified the American Convention on Human Rights (American Convention) or the Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Protocol of San Salvador).7 10. Canada has additional international obligations under ICCPR Article 9 to protect the liberty and security of all persons and to protect against arbitrary and unlawful detention. 4 A/HRC/WG.6/16/CAN/1, para. 128.10. Brouwer, Andrew. ‘Statelessness in the Canadian Context’. UNHCR, 2012, page 31. 6 A/HRC/WG.6/16/CAN/1, para. 128.23. 7 Organization of American States. ‘Member State: Canada’. http://www.oas.org/en/member_states/member_state.asp?sCode=CAN. 5 2