1. MAKING EFFECTIVE USE OF UN HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS TO SOLVE STATELESSNESS of support for the 2016 resolution22 as well as the decision to hold an inter-sessional workshop on best practices in promoting women’s equal nationality rights are positive indications for the Council’s further engagement. Substantively, the two resolutions on the right to nationality are somewhat cautious about asserting State obligations; they urge States to refrain from enacting or maintaining discriminatory nationality laws and to reform provisions discriminating against women, but stop short of any stronger language on the subject.23 Both resolutions encourage States to “facilitate, in accordance with their national law, the acquisition of nationality by children born on their territories or to their nationals abroad who would otherwise be stateless”24 while the 2012 resolution also urged them to “grant nationality to foundlings found in their territory in the absence of proof that the foundling is not a national of the State where found”.25 These provisions clearly take inspiration from Articles 1(1) and 2, respectively, of the 1961 Statelessness Convention and reassert these provisions as a matter of good practice, but do not purport to represent universally binding legal obligations, presumably because of the large number of States that are still not Parties to that Convention. Despite these developments, there remain a number of significant omissions in the ways that statelessness and related issues are addressed in the work of the Human Rights Council. For instance, thematic resolutions dealing with specific groups, such as the Roma, the indigenous, and migrants have not mentioned statelessness or access to nationality as issues of concern for these groups. Between 2012 and 2015, the only country-specific resolution to address statelessness was that on Myanmar, which regularly included 22 23 24 25 HRC, Resolution 32/7: The right to a nationality: women’s equal nationality rights in law and in practice, adopted without a vote 30 June 2016, A/HRC/ RES/32/7. HRC, Resolution 20/4, supra n10, paras. 5-6; HRC, Resolution 32/7, supra n22, paras. 4-5. HRC, Resolution 20/4, supra n10, para. 4; HRC, Resolution 32/7, supra n22, para. 15. HRC, Resolution 20/4, supra n10, para. 7. The omission of this paragraph from the 2016 resolution reflects its focus on women only. 20