Assessment of the #IBelong Campaign in Kyrgyzstan is one example of what can be accomplished when each has a prescribed role to play and collaborates in the undertaking. Strengthening partnerships on statelessness is critical to advance and support the pledges made and those yet to materialise as part of the #IBelong Campaign. VISION AND OWNERSHIP AT NATIONAL LEVELS The right to a nationality as articulated in art 15 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a clear statement of entitlement applicable to all people. 26 However, the grant of a nationality is still considered a matter of state sovereignty, an act performed by a state, deliverable only at the national level. This can leave quite a gap between the abstract notion of an individual right of all people and a specific action by a national authority to ensure the grant of nationality to a specific person. States should be encouraged to establish a political vision that is aspirational with regard to nationality. Benefits of inclusion far outweigh limitations inherent in exclusive policies. The goal to end statelessness is most effectively achieved if set at the national level, ensuring all people can contribute to the society and community within which they live. A good step for every state is to establish a national plan of action to end statelessness. ENDING GENDER BARRIERS TO NATIONALITY DETERMINATION One hallmark of how inclusive a society is must surely be whether all of its citizens are equally represented. Denying women the ability to convey their identity and nationality to their children or to their spouse is therefore counterintuitive with regard to the representation of women in the society as a whole, in addition to generating cases of statelessness in multiple instances. Any legal impediments to advancing gender equality in nationality determination should be identified as critical areas of focus for the remainder of the Campaign. ENDING THE RISK OF STATELESSNESS AT BIRTH Most states grant nationality to a child by virtue of birth on the state’s territory or through descent from a national, with as many variations on the jus soli and jus sanguinis approaches as there are states. A very simple formula to end statelessness within a generation would be that all states grant nationality to children either born on their territory or descended from their nationals where the child would otherwise be stateless. INTRODUCING COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEMS TO IDENTIFY AND RESOLVE STATELESSNESS. There is now a great deal of state practice and experience on how to identify statelessness, how to establish who is stateless, resolving cases internally as well as with other states, and introducing practices that will avoid instances of statelessness in the future. The 1954 and the 1961 Statelessness Conventions respectively outline how to identify statelessness, ensure a legal status and prevent future cases. As is the case with regard to any risk, it is easier to mitigate the 26 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, GA Res 217A (III), UN GAOR, UN Doc A/810 (10 December 1948) art 15. 313

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