Leaving No One Behind: Statelessness and the Sustainable Development Goals 2.3 Causes of statelessness International law affords States a large degree of discretion in determining who their nationals are, but not complete freedom. In particular, they are constrained by obligations to address discrimination, ensure equal protection under the law and prevent and reduce statelessness. National laws usually provide for nationality to be attributed to children at the time of birth by operation of law, whether based on the nationality of a parent or the State in which the child is born. Recognition of nationality by the competent authorities typically depends not only on the relevant provisions in the constitution or nationality legislation, but also on other laws, such as family law or civil registration law, that set out the conditions for legal recognition of descent from a parent or place of birth. In practice, the authorities responsible for nationality administration within any country often focus only on whether a person is a national of that State, without any consideration of whether they might have access to any other nationality or of the minimum rules for the prevention and reduction of statelessness under international law. The principal causes of statelessness thus include gaps in laws establishing entitlement to nationality, problems with the secondary rules on implementation of these laws, and the practical interpretation and application of laws and procedures by officials.9 ! A) The principal causes of statelessness • Lack of any rights to nationality based on birth in the territory, in particular for children who are otherwise stateless. • Lack of a presumption of nationality for children of unknown parents and place of birth. • Restrictions on the transmission of nationality to children born outside the territory of a State. • Discrimination based on sex, especially in the transmission of nationality to children and in registration of births. • Discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, or similar characteristics, whether in law or practice. • Failure to ensure that all those affected by State succession (transfer of sovereignty over a territory) acquire the nationality of a successor State. • Inaccessibility of naturalization. • Arbitrary deprivation of nationality. • Weak civil registration systems, including lack of access to consular assistance. • Forced displacement. • Destruction or loss of identity documents and registers. 2.4 Solutions to statelessness The solutions to statelessness involve filling these gaps and addressing these problems. They include both legal reform and practical efforts to ensure that those previously excluded are recognized as nationals within national civil and other identification registers, as established in the UNHCR Global Action Plan 2.0 9. For more on the causes of statelessness, see the information on the UNHCR campaign to eradicate statelessness, available at www.unhcr.org/ibelong/ about-statelessness/; as well as the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion’s knowledge hub on statelessness, available at www.statelesshub.org/ theme/causes-statelessness. 16