A/HRC/46/36 those concerning the status of children as rights holders79 and other rights relevant to family life, e.g., the right to inheritance and sexual and reproductive rights, alongside the traditional areas of inquiry under the mandate, including the rights to privacy, freedom of religion or belief, non-discrimination and equality. Three pertinent dimensions of family-related practice are the regulation of “legitimate” marriage, birth certificates and the recognition of citizenship and custody. With regard to marriage, she notes the challenging issues arising as a result of the practices of marriage, including forced marriage associated with armed groups, in Iraq, the Syrian Arab Republic and other conflict-affected areas. 80 The failure and unwillingness of States to recognize the marriages of their (female) nationals to individuals associated with proscribed and listed organizations results in the non-recognition of certain families under law, the exclusion from entitlements that flow from the legal recognition of family status and the loss of the financial, cultural and social standing facilitated by marriage status. Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms the right of persons to marry and found a family and was drafted specifically to underscore the equal rights of women in the context of marriage. There are many organized and violent organizations, including far right-wing violent groups, whose members marry freely, where no legal impediments to the exercise of marriage rights or recognition are evident, raising concerns about selective non-recognition of certain marriages based on religious, ethnic or minority status. The Special Rapporteur affirms the prohibition on forced marriage, recognized by the International Criminal Court.81 She underscores the significance of marriage recognition and the importance of States applying the Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages to ensure the protection of the fundamental rights associated with marriage. 22. The Special Rapporteur is concerned about the failure to recognize the births of children of persons associated with proscribed groups. Specifically, hundreds of children were born in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic when ISIL functioned as the de facto authority over large swaths of that territory. The issuance by non-State armed groups of birth “certificates” and their subsequent non-recognition places children born under the caliphate in the category of an “unchild”,82 lacking legal and social identity under law, stateless as a matter of international law and resultingly vulnerable to the most egregious and profound human rights violations. Legal recognition under law to identity is essential to claim family rights; its absence produces a myriad of intersectional harms. The lack of individual legal recognition is inconsistent with article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that everyone has the right to a nationality. The recognition of nationality often functions as the precursor to the meaningful exercise of family rights and is essential to family unity. The deliberate obfuscation in counter-terrorism practice by States in order to disable the recognition of nationality constitutes a violation of individual rights and functions to undermine the right to family life. 23. The Special Rapporteur notes an acceleration in the practices of citizenship stripping and deprivation in the counter-terrorism context.83 Arbitrary deprivation of citizenship is a violation of international law, and widespread use of citizenship stripping in the name of countering terrorism works against the spirit and intention of both the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. 84 The deprivation of citizenship for a family member has profound consequences for the integrity, functionality and vulnerability of the family as a whole. Where the family member is the See Kristen Sanberg, “Children’s right to protection under the CRC” in Asgeir Falch-Eriksen and Elisabeth Backe-Hansen, eds., Human Rights in Child Protection: Implications for Professional Practice and Policy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). 80 Mara Redlich Revkin and Elizabeth Jean Wood, ���The Islamic State’s Pattern of Sexual Violence: Ideology and Institutions, Policies and Practice”, Journal of Global Security Studies. 81 “Situation in Uganda in the case of The Prosecutor v. Dominic Ongwen”, ICC-02/04/-01/15, para. 95. 82 Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Incarcerated Childhood and the Politics of Unchilding (Cambridge University Press, 2019). 83 See, e.g., the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion Year of Action on Citizenship Stripping and the Institute’s report, “The world’s stateless: deprivation of nationality” (2020). 84 Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Begum v. Secretary of State for the Home Department, case No. UKSC 2020/0158; and Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, “Guidelines on Statelessness No. 5”. 79 12