THE COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD 88th Session (6-24 September 2021) Eswatini Civil society submission on the right of every child to acquire a nationality under Article 7 and 8 and be protected from abuse under Article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in accordance with the Guiding Principles to the Convention 13 August 2021 Introduction 1. The Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organisations (CANGO)1, Youth Sustainable Development Centre (YSDC)2, the Southern African Human Rights Defenders Network (SAHRDN)3, the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI),4 and the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights5 welcome the opportunity to make this submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (hereafter the Committee) regarding Eswatini’s compliance towards every child’s right to acquire a nationality under Article 7 CRC and preserve their nationality (Article 8), as well as issues related to obligations to protect children from abuse and exploitation (Article 19). This submission also draws on the Guiding Principles of the Convention, in particular the freedom from discrimination (Article 2) and the Best Interests of the Child (Article 3). 2. The co-submitting organizations hope that the Committee will draw on this submission to raise the issue of realizing the right of every child to acquire a nationality in its recommendations to the Government of Eswatini in its Concluding Observations to further prevent and reduce gender discrimination, childhood statelessness, and other associated violations of children’s 1 The Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organisations (CANGO) is a membership based, umbrella organisation for NGOs in Eswatini with a membership of more than seventy NGOs. Its mandate is to coordinate, facilitate joint advocacy, build capacity – both institutional and technical and manage grants. The member organisations are clustered into consortia; namely children, youth, gender, food security and livelihoods, media, HIV/AIDS, Human Rights and Governance, and the Elections Support Network. 2 Youth Sustainable Development Centre (YSDC) is a non-profit organisation that is working on youth economic empowerment through sustainable development, which further mobilises youth as sustainable development agents, problem solvers and human rights advocates. 3 The Southern African Human Rights Defenders Network (SAHRDN) is the regional human rights defenders (HRD) network with the primary mandate to coordinate the protection and security of HRDs in the region, and to enhance their ability to work in their particular countries, in the face of state-driven or supported repression. The SAHRDN supports HRDs in engaging with supranational reporting and protection mechanisms. 4 The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI) is the first and only human rights NGO dedicated to working on statelessness at the global level. ISI’s mission is to promote inclusive societies by realising and protecting everyone’s right to a nationality. The Institute has made over 80 country specific UPR submissions on the human rights of stateless persons. ISI has also compiled summaries of the key human rights challenges related to statelessness in all countries under review under the 23rd to the 38th UPR Sessions. 5 The Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights mobilizes international action for the removal of gender-discriminatory provisions from all nationality laws, through its coalition of national, regional and international organizations and activists, including steering committee members Equality Now, Equal Rights Trust, the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, Women’s Learning Partnership, and Women’s Refugee Commission.