SOLVING STATELESSNESS
Topic
All relevant recommendations51
Recommendations on statelessness or right to nationality
Recommendations specifically mentioning stateless
Existing situations of statelessness
No child born stateless
Gender discrimination in nationality laws
Accepted
Recommendations
Rejected
(Noted)
Recommendations
Number
%
Number
%
308
57
234
43
542
19
30
44
70
63
142
48
21
62
Denial, deprivation or loss of nationality
11
Birth registration
Access to identity documentation
Accede to 1954 and/or 1961 Statelessness Conventions
51
163
22
21
45
37
64
41
32
85
79
28
173
83
12
88
23
29
6
55
55
Total
315
63
131
59
150
21
28
36
68
15
72
33
34
192
76
Examining which recommendations are accepted or rejected shows
that, unsurprisingly, recommendations which are perceived as
“political”, or interfering with matters of State sovereignty or matters
where the State has an established position, are likely to be rejected.
This is illustrated by the low acceptance rate for recommendations on
specific situations, which by their nature tend to be sensitive and often
relate to the situation of minorities. Only five States have accepted
recommendations falling under this heading (Brunei Darussalam,
Croatia, Italy, Myanmar52 and Slovenia).53 The same dynamic likely
influenced the Dominican Republic’s rejection of recommendations
51
52
53
Recommendations on statelessness/right to nationality and broadly relevant
recommendations.
The accepted recommendation reads “[a]ccelerate citizenship verification
processes so that populations now deprived of identity documents do not
remain in an illegal situation”. It should however be noted that Myanmar
rejected 14 other recommendations on this subject. HRC, Report of the
Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Myanmar, 23 December
2015, A/HRC/31/13, para. 143.119 (accepted), paras. 144.86-87 and 145.5566 (noted).
HRC, Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Brunei
Darussalam, 7 July 2014, A/HRC/27/11, para. 113.80; HRC, Report of the
Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Croatia, 20 July 2015,
A/HRC/30/14, para. 99.166; HRC, Report of the Working Group on the
Universal Periodic Review: Italy, 10 December 2014, A/HRC/28/4, para.
145.18; HRC, Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review:
Slovenia, 10 December 2014, A/HRC/28/15, paras. 115.66, 94-97, 99-100,
102, 149, 161.
31