A/HRC/19/43 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 19 December 2011 Original: English Human Rights Council Nineteenth session Agenda items 2 and 3 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Human rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality Report of the Secretary-General Summary The present report is submitted pursuant to resolution 13/2 of the Human Rights Council. In the report, the Secretary-General analyzes the impact of the arbitrary deprivation of nationality on the enjoyment of human rights, including civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. He notes that, while international human rights law clearly establishes the obligation of all States to respect the human rights of all individuals without distinction of any kind, States may restrict the enjoyment of some international human rights vis-à-vis non-citizens, subject to stringent conditions related to the principle of non-discrimination. The Secretary-General further notes that the arbitrary deprivation of nationality leads the affected persons to become non-citizens with respect to the State that deprived them of their nationality. Arbitrary deprivation of nationality, therefore, effectively places the affected persons in a more disadvantaged situation concerning the enjoyment of their human rights because some of these rights may be subjected to lawful limitations that otherwise would not apply, but also because these persons are placed in a situation of increased vulnerability to human rights violations. GE.11-17443