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International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;5 the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women;6 the Convention on the Elimination on All Forms of Racial
Discrimination;7 the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;8 and the Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.9 A number of UN treaties contain
specific provisions offering protection against statelessness, such as the 1948
Universal Declaration of Human Rights,10 the 1954 Convention Relating to the
Status of Stateless Persons,11 and 1961 Convention for the Reduction of
Statelessness.12 Regarding children in particular, several UN treaties address
statelessness, including the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights,13 the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,14 and the International
Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and
Members of Their Families.15
2.2
The Child Statelessness Problem
While a patchwork of international treaties provide for a child’s right to a
nationality, statelessness remains a persistent problem throughout the world.16
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6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, G.A. res. 2200A (XXI),
U.N. GAOR, Supp. No. 16, at 49, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966).
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women,
18 December 1979, 19 I.L.M. 33.
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,
7 January 1966, 5 I.L.M.
Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment, 10 December 1984, 23 I:L.M. 1027, modified 24 I.L.M. 535.
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 9 December
1948, 78 U.N.T.S. 277.
Art 15, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, G.A. Res. 217A(III), U.N. GOAR, 3d sess.,
Supp. No. 13, U.N. Doc. A/810 (1948).
Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, 26 April 1954, 189 U.N.T.S. 150.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Objectives and key provisions of the 1961 Convention
on the Reduction of Statelessness (1 October 2001) <www.unhcr.org/3bd7d3914.html>
accessed 14 September 2013.
ICCPR, Art 24(3).
Convention on the Rights of the Child, G.A. Res. 44/25, Art 1(3) (10 November 1989),
available at <www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx> accessed
14 September 2013.
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and
Members of Their Families, Art 29.
Jay Milbrandt, ‘Statelessness’ (2011) 20 Cardozo J Int’l & Comp L 75, 89.
tilburg law review 19 (2014) 64-73