THE COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD 73rd Pre-Sessional Working Group (1 – 5 February 2016) ESTONIA Civil Society Submission on the right of every child to acquire a nationality under Article 7 CRC 31 October 2015 Introduction 1. This civil society submission by the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (the Institute)1 and the European Network on Statelessness (ENS)2 highlights problems in the realisation of the right of every child to acquire a nationality and the avoidance of childhood statelessness in Estonia. In light of the Committee’s previous recommendations on the issue,3 recommendations issued during the first UPR cycle,4 recommendations by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination5 and the Committee against Torture,6 the importance of the eradication of statelessness as expressed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees #IBelong campaign,7 a history of more than two decades of international and domestic concern on the issue,8 and the Government’s commitment to solving statelessness within its borders,9 the Institute and ENS hope the Committee will: - Raise the issue of realising the right of every child to acquire a nationality in its List of Issues for Estonia. In particular by asking what progress has been made in drafting legislation to realise the right of every child to a nationality in those situations which are not addressed by the amendments of 21 January 2015 that will make citizenship available for children born in Estonia to parents who are stateless (“with undetermined citizenship”) and who have lived in Estonia at least five years prior to the birth of the child; and 1 The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion is an independent non-profit organization committed to promoting the human rights of stateless persons and fostering inclusion to ultimately end statelessness. Addressing childhood statelessness is one of the core thematic priorities of the Institute. See further: www.InstituteSI.org. 2 The European Network on Statelessness is a civil society alliance of NGOs, academic initiatives and individual experts committed to addressing statelessness. With 103 members in 39 European countries, the Network’s current thematic priority is ending childhood statelessness in Europe, including through its #StatelessKids campaign. See further www.statelessness.eu. 3 CRC/C/15/Add.196, 17 March 2003, para. 29. 4 In March 2011, Estonia accepted the recommendation made by Ecuador, during the first UPR cycle, to “Resolve the problem of persons without citizenship, and prevent such cases from arising in the future”. 5 CERD/C/EST/CO/10-11, 22 September 2014. 6 CAT/C/EST/CO/5, 17 June 2013. 7 The UNHCR #IBelong campaign aims to eradicate statelessness by the year 2024, see further: http://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/. 8 Including numerous recommendations during the 1990s by OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Max van der Stoel and in recent years by Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks. 9 Combined second, third and fourth state party reports, CRC/C/EST/2-4, April 2013. 1