SOLVING STATELESSNESS Article 2 of the CRC, which explicitly prohibits discrimination based on a parent or legal guardian’s status.97 Similarly, a recommendation to Turkmenistan suggesting that the best interests of the child should be considered in statelessness determination procedures98 draws on Article 3 of the CRC which sets out the general principle that the best interests of the child should be a primary consideration in all actions concerning the child, but demonstrates an increasingly robust assertion of the relevance of these standards to nationality laws. The Committee on the Rights of the Child’s increasing sensitivity to statelessness and nationality issues is reflected, for instance, by its views on the importance of the removal of gender discrimination from nationality laws (even if there are safeguards against statelessness in national laws)99 as well as on the removal of discrimination on the basis of disability from naturalisation requirements.100 4. Conclusion Although the level of attention to statelessness and nationality by international human rights mechanisms remains low when compared with many other thematic topics, it has begun to increase in recent years. A number of high profile statelessness situations have undoubtedly served to draw attention to the plight of stateless populations. At the same time, UNHCR’s Campaign to End Statelessness has raised the level of awareness of the right to nationality as an important human rights topic and helped to galvanise a network of interested actors who are actively working to open opportunities for further discussion. As this chapter has shown, the Human Rights Council, the Special 97 98 99 100 the combined second to fourth periodic reports of Turkmenistan, 10 March 2015, CRC/C/TKM/CO/2-4, paras. 24-25; CRC, Concluding observations on the fourth periodic report of the Netherlands, 8 June 2015, CRC/C/NDL/CO/4, paras. 32-33 (criticising a limitation to a proposed law granting nationality to stateless children born in the Netherlands without a legal residence permit, but only if their parents had cooperated with the authorities). For further discussion of the relevance of this provision to statelessness see, A. de Chickera and J. Whiteman, “Addressing statelessness through the rights to equality and non-discrimination”, chapter 4 in this book. CRC, Concluding observations: Turkmenistan, supra n96, paras. 20-21. CRC, Concluding observations on the combined second to fourth periodic reports of Iraq, 3 March 2015, CRC/C/IRQ/CO/2-4, paras. 31-32. CRC, Concluding observations on the fourth periodic report of Yemen, 25 February 2014, CRC/C/YEM/CO/4, paras. 39-40. 43