The 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination prohibits and eliminates in Article 5 racial discrimination in all its forms
concerning nationality. Article 24 of the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, provides: “Every child shall be registered immediately after birth and
shall have a name. Every child has the right to acquire a nationality.” Nationality in
children has been further protected in the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child:
“The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth
to a name, the right to acquire a nationality… State Parties shall ensure the
implementation of these rights in accordance with their national law and their
obligations under the relevant international instruments in this field, in particular where
the child would otherwise be stateless.”
Concerning women’s nationality, the 1979 Convention on the Elimination on All Forms
of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) builds on the 1957 Convention on the
Nationality of Married Women. Article 9 of CEDAW stipulates that: “1 State Parties
shall grant women equal rights with men to acquire, change or retain their nationality.
They shall ensure in particular that neither marriage to an alien nor change of nationality
by the husband during marriage shall automatically change the nationality of the wife,
render her stateless or force upon her the nationality of her husband. 2 State Parties shall
grant women equal rights with men with respect to the nationality of their children.”
The 2006 Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities also recognizes the
fundamental nature of the right to acquire and change a nationality. It stresses in Article
18 that: “Children with disabilities shall be registered immediately after birth and shall
have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality”. It also explicitly
requires that States ensure that persons with disabilities “[h]ave the right to acquire and
change a nationality and are not deprived of their nationality arbitrarily or on the basis
of disability” and “[a]re not deprived, on the basis of disability, of their ability to obtain,
possess and utilize documentation of their nationality or other documentation of
identification, or to utilize relevant processes such as immigration proceedings, that may
be needed to facilitate exercise of the right to liberty of movement”.
Regional human rights instruments also refer to nationality, such as the 1969 American
Convention on Human Rights, which has been supported by the Inter-American Court.
Article 20 reflects the jus soli principle prevalently adopted in Latin America: “1. Every
person has the right to a nationality. 2. Every person has the right to the nationality of
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