eradication of statelessness as expressed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees #IBelong campaign3 the joint-submitters hopes to raise the issue of realising the right of every individual to acquire a nationality in Bahrain, as well as realising the right of every individual not to be arbitrarily deprived of their nationality. The Universal Periodic Review of Bahrain under the Second Cycle (2012). 6. In 2012, under the second UPR cycle, eight recommendations were made to Bahrain on amending discrimination in its nationality law.4 For example Uruguay recommended that Bahrain ‘Adopt legislation that allows children of Bahraini mothers and non-Bahraini fathers to obtain Bahraini nationality,’5 and India stated that Bahrain ‘continue taking temporary measures for granting citizenship to children of Bahraini women married to non-Bahrainis until the draft law amending the Nationality Law comes into effect.’.6 The Government of Bahrain fully supported all of these recommendations, accepting them, and stating that: ‘Citizenship was conferred on 335 children of Bahraini women married to non-Bahrainis by Royal Order issued in December 2011. Law No. 35/2009 gave children of Bahraini women married to non-Bahrainis exemption from public, health and education services, and permanent residency fees. A draft law is in the process of being enacted to amend the Bahraini Nationality Law.’7 7. Unfortunately, there were no recommendations made regarding the stateless Bidoon in Bahrain in the last UPR cycle. This is compared with the 18 that Kuwait received in its 2015 review under the UPR.8 This is emblematic of the fact that this issue is more hidden in Bahrain. Some examples of the recommendations that Kuwait received, which would also be relevant to Bahrain were: ‘Take the necessary steps to facilitate the process of qualifying stateless individuals to be granted nationality so that they can enjoy basic human rights’, given by Korea and ‘Take measures to regularize the situation of stateless residents in Kuwait, as well as measures for their integration in society that guarantee their economic, social and cultural rights’ given by Spain. Relevant international and national law 8. There are various international law provisions relevant to Bahrain that uphold the right to nationality for all. Firstly, Article 15 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights states that “everyone has the right to a nationality” and “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality”. Article 24 of the International 3 The UNHCR #IBelong campaign aims to eradicate statelessness by the year 2024, see further: http://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/. 4 Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, Bahrain, Addendum (A/HRC/21/6/Add.1/Rev.1), United Nations Human Rights Council, 6 July 2012, https://documents-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G12/150/49/PDF/G1215049.pdf?OpenElement 5 Ibid para 115.7 6 Ibid 115.75 7 Ibid 3.e 8 Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review – Kuwait, A/HRC/29/17, United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 13 April 2015, https://documents-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G15/076/70/PDF/G1507670.pdf?OpenElement