required for citizenship, including for indigenous peoples, minority groups and the populations of the Bakassi peninsula,5 and the recommendations issued by states to Cameroon during the second UPR cycle on ratification of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness,6 birth registration7 and access to citizenship for indigenous populations,8, the importance of the eradication of statelessness as expressed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees #IBelong campaign,9 and the relevance of Goal 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals, which aims to “by 2030, provide legal identity for all, including birth registration”,10 the submitting organisations hope the Committee will raise the issue of realising the right of every child to acquire a nationality in its List of Issues for Cameroon and address recommendations to the Government of Cameroon to further prevent and reduce the problem of childhood statelessness in the country. 3. This submission draws on the experience of CGI in carrying out research on the international, regional and national frameworks of citizenship and the right to nationality in countries of the central African sub-region, with a particular focus on statelessness and the risk of statelessness, inspired by the African Union (AU) call to respect the right to a nationality, which it affirmed as the human right of every African; and the United Nations Agency for Refugees (UNHCR) global campaign to end statelessness over the next decade. CGI is a member of the Coalition for the Right to nationality in Africa (CRAI), a Pan-African project which seeks to end statelessness and the arbitrary denial of nationality in Africa. CRAI currently focuses on a campaign to adopt a protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Right to Nationality. In October 2015, CGI organised a sub-regional conference on “Citizenship and the Right to nationality in Central Africa held in Yaoundé, Cameroon. 4. The Submission also draws on the Institute’s expertise on statelessness and the right to a nationality at global level. The Institute is committed to helping promote children’s right to a nationality, establishing it as one of its five thematic priorities. As part of this work, the Institute has developed a Toolkit, to strengthen civil society engagement on children's right to a nationality with the Committee on the Rights of the Child.11 5. This submission has been structured to highlight issues which may be included in the List of Issues by including them in text boxes under each substantive section, and recommendations which may be drawn on for the Committees Concluding Observations by listing them at the very end of the text. For the Committee’s convenience, this footnote includes links to the text of all relevant Cameroonian laws cited in in this submission. 12 5 CERD/C/CMR/CO/19-21, para. 19, 26 September 2014. Recommendation by Djibouti A/HRC/24/15, para. 131.23 (recommendation noted), 5 July 2013. 7 Recommendations by Thailand, Republic of Moldova, and Sierra Leone, A/HRC/24/15, paras. 121.89-91, (recommendations accepted) , 5 July 2013. 8 Recommendation by Cape Verde, A/HRC/24/15, para. 131.168 (accepted), 5 July 2013. 9 The UNHCR #IBelong campaign aims to eradicate statelessness by the year 2024, see further: http://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/. 10 A/RES/70/1. 11 This Toolkit can be found at: http://www.statelessnessandhumanrights.org/ 12 Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon, available online at: http://confinder.richmond.edu/admin/docs/Cameroon.pdf Loi N° 68-LF-3 du 11 juin 1968 portant code de la nationalité camerounaise, available online at: http://www.atanganaeteme-emeran.com/IMG/pdf/Code_de_la_nationalite.pdf Law N° 2011/011 of 6 May 2011 to amend and supplement certain provisions of Ordinance N° 81/002 of 29 June 1981 to organize civil status registration and various provisions relating to the status of natural persons is available at : http://minatd.cm/phocadownload/Telechargements/Etat_civil/law2011_011.pdf Ordinance N° 81/002 of 29 June 1981 organising civil status registration and various provisions relating to the status of natural persons is available at: http://www.jafbase.fr/docAfrique/Cameroun/ORDONNANCE%20N%c2%b0%2081002%20%20du%2029%20J%20CAMEROUN.pdf?#zoom=81&statusbar=0&navpanes=0&messages=0 6