The International Obligations of the Russian Federation 3. The RF is a party to core UN Human Rights treaties that include provisions related to statelessness and/or nationality, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD, 1965), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, 1966), The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, 1966), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, 1979), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). In addition to guarantees of the right to nationality, both the ICCPR and CRC contain provisions that oblige Russia to ensure the timely birth registration of every child immediately after birth. Within the Council of Europe, Russia ratified (1998) the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) (1950); ratified (1998) the Framework Convention on the Rights of National Minorities (1995); and partly ratified (2009) the European Social Charter (1961).5 4. Russia has additional international and regional obligations to protect the liberty and security of all persons (including stateless persons) and to protect against arbitrary and unlawful detention. These obligations derive primarily from the ICCPR (Article 9) and ECHR (Article 5). 5. Russia has not yet ratified the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954), the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (1961), or the Council of Europe Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in Relation to State Succession (2006). It has signed but not ratified the European Convention on Nationality (1997). 6. Among the important recent recommendations made to Russia by UN Treaty Bodies, the UN CERD (93rd session, 2017) recommended: “that the State party take urgent measures to expedite the registration of all those seeking registration in a transparent manner. The Committee also recommends that the State party take measures to bring to an end any discriminatory or arbitrary behaviour by officials involved in registration activities. Moreover, the State party is requested to guarantee that the enjoyment of rights by all individuals in the Russian Federation is not dependent on residence registration. Finally, the State party is encouraged to accede to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness”.6 7. The UN CEDAW in 2015 also urged the RF: “to ensure that undocumented migrant women, in particular pregnant women and women with small children, receive adequate assistance, are not subjected to prolonged administrative detention and benefit from integration policies and family reunification measures”.7 8. The 2014 European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgment on the case “Kim vs Russia” found the Russian Federation to be in violation of Articles 3 (inhuman detention conditions), 5.1 (extended detention without the prospect of expulsion, lack of periodic judicial oversight of detention terms), and 5.4 (violation of the rights of prisoners of Centres for Temporary Detention of Foreign Nationals - CTDFNs to appeal and to judicial oversight over the legitimacy and length of detention) of the ECHR. The ECtHR obligated Russia to adopt measures of a general nature to correct this situation in order to prevent similar violations in the future. 5 See this table of provisions of the Social Charter that were accepted by Russia - http://www.coe.int/en/web/turin-europeansocial-charter/the-russian-federation-and-the-european-social-charter 6 UN CERD. Concluding observations on the 23 and 24 periodic reports of the Russian Federation. 93 rd session of the UN CERD. 2017. http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=1110&Lang=en 7 UN CEDAW. Concluding observations on the 8th periodic report of the Russian Federation. 62nd session of the UN CEDAW. 2015. http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=970&Lang=en 2