United Stateless, the Americas Network on Nationality and Statelessness and the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion Joint Submission to the Human Rights Council at the 36th Session of the Universal Periodic Review United States of America Introduction 1. United Stateless, the Americas Network on Nationality and Statelessness (Red-ANA) 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 the United States of America. 2. This submission focuses on gaps in the national legal framework concerning nationality and statelessness, the risk of denaturalization of naturalized Americans, the lack of an identification and protection framework for stateless persons, the arbitrary detention of stateless persons, and the rights of stateless persons. 3. United Stateless is a registered non-profit organization in the United States representing stateless persons and their allies. Its mission is to build and inspire community among those affected by statelessness and to advocate for their human rights.1 4. Red ANA is a network of civil society organizations, academic initiatives, and individual experts committed to addressing statelessness in the Americas. We believe that all human beings have a right to a nationality and that those who lack nationality altogether – stateless persons – are entitled to adequate protection.2 5. The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion is an independent non-profit organization 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 center committed to promoting the human rights of stateless persons and ending statelessness. The Institute has made over 50 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 35th UPR Sessions.3 1 For more information about United Stateless, see: www.unitedstateless.org/. For more information about Red-ANA, see: http://www.americasns.org/ 3 For more information about the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, see: www.institutesi.org. 2 1