is not registered within two years; or if he or she is not issued with a birth certificate in accordance with the law. Furthermore, Section 5.3 stipulates that no person shall be recognised as a Bangladeshi citizen if their father or mother engages in acts of war, or other activities against Bangladesh. These provisions, which if enacted, would deny the right of the child to nationality and place the child at risk of statelessness due to the negligence, actions or omissions of others. This is contrary to Article 7 of the CRC as well as Article 3, which protects the best interests of the child. 25. Section 4.2.b of the bill also places children born on the territory at risk of statelessness, by denying the right to citizenship if the child’s mother or father is considered to be an alien enemy of the state. 26. Section 11.d of the bill, on ‘citizenship by marriage’ stipulates that the spouse of a Bangladeshi citizen who is an ‘illegal immigrant’ shall not be entitled to Bangladeshi citizenship. This provision appears to directly target and discriminate against stateless Rohingya refugees, who should be recognised and protected as refugees, but instead are widely perceived as ‘illegal immigrants’. 27. Section 18 of the bill sets out 4 criteria which are the basis for ‘disqualification for citizenship’ notwithstanding any of the other provisions of the bill. These criteria concern direct or indirect allegiance to another state (with the exception of dual nationality), joining the military of another country, being the citizen or resident of a state that is or has been at war with Bangladesh or is an illegal immigrant. These criteria are very broad, and open to interpretation. Furthermore, the criteria does not provide any safeguard against statelessness. 28. Section 19, which deals with the denunciation of citizenship, stipulates that minor child of a person denunciating their Bangladeshi citizenship, shall not be able to obtain citizenship. As with section 5, this provision also fails to protect children from statelessness. 29. Section 20 allows for the revocation of citizenship of citizens by descent (i.e., those born abroad to a Bangladeshi parent), but not of citizens by birth (those born on the territory to a Bangladeshi parent). As with section 18 on disqualification, the criteria for revocation are also broad and susceptible to abuse. 30. Finally, members of the Urdu speaking community have expressed concern that Section 3 of the bill stipulates that the provisions of this bill will prevail in the case of any inconsistencies with any other legal instrument, decree, judgment etc. Members of this community fear that this provision may be invoked to undermine their citizenship which was recognised by the courts in a 2008 judgment. It is of crucial importance, that this fear is addressed, and members of this community are issued with guarantees that they will not be stripped of their nationality further to the enactment of this bill. Recommendations 31. Based on the preceding overview, the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion and the Stateless Network Asia Pacific, urge reviewing states to make the following recommendations to Bangladesh: I. Ensure that all children born in the territory of Bangladesh, or to a Bangladeshi parent, are guaranteed without discrimination to their right to a nationality as enshrined in Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. II. Fully promote, respect, protect and fulfil its obligations towards stateless persons under international human rights law. III. Ratify and fully implement the 1954 Convention relating to the status of Stateless Persons, the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the 1951 Convention relating to the status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. 8