1. MAKING EFFECTIVE USE OF UN HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS
TO SOLVE STATELESSNESS
on ensuring that no child is born stateless (accounting for six of
the rejected recommendations on this topic).54 For other States the
concordance of these recommendations with the provisions of the CRC
may have contributed to making them acceptable.
A similar pattern is visible in the recommendations on denial, loss
or deprivation of nationality; recommendations dealing with specific
situations or particular groups are significantly less likely to be accepted
than those referring only to discriminatory provisions in national laws.
The well established nature of the prohibition on arbitrary deprivation
of nationality may help in this respect, but this may equally be seen
as a recognition that principles of non-discrimination and equality
should apply to nationality laws.
The high level of acceptance of recommendations on birth registration
may again be related to the near universal acceptance of the CRC as well
as the generally uncontroversial nature of the issue. Recommendations
linking birth registration to other issues such as the status of migrant
workers,55 minorities,56 the withdrawal of reservations to the CRC,57
or the prevention of statelessness58 are less likely to be accepted than
those without such references. On the other hand including in these
recommendations the importance of issuing documentation as well
54
55
56
57
58
HRC, Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Dominican
Republic, 4 April 2014, A/HRC/26/15, paras. 98.18, 98.114, 98.116-117,
98.126, 98.131 (while these recommendations do not all specifically mention
preventing childhood statelessness their context makes it clear that one of the
concerns being addressed in each case was the denial of nationality to children
of Haitian descent born in the Dominican Republic).
HRC, Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Republic
of Korea, 12 December 2012, A/HRC/22/10, para. 124.29; HRC, Report of the
Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Malaysia, 4 December 2013,
A/HRC/25/10, para. 146.221.
HRC, Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: India, 9
July 2012, A/HRC/21/10, para. 138.131.
HRC, UPR Report: Malaysia, supra n55, para. 146.33.
Of the four birth registration recommendations mentioning statelessness,
three were rejected. HRC, UPR Report: Republic of Korea, supra n55, para.
124.29; HRC, UPR Report: Dominican Republic, supra n54, para. 98.113; HRC,
Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Lebanon,
22 December 2015, A/HRC/31/5, para. 132.215. The one accepted birth
registration recommendation mentioning statelessness was HRC, Report of
the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Comoros, 7 April 2014,
A/HRC/26/11, para. 112.6.
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