1.0. INTRODUCTION On the 9th of August 2017, the PAP Committees on Justice & Human Rights and the Committee on Rules, Privileges & Discipline held a workshop on the Right to Nationality in collaboration with the South African Lawyers for Human Rights. The workshop received presentations from representative of the African Commission on Human & Peoples’ Rights and United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR). 2.0. UNHCR PRESENTATION: THE RIGHT TO A NATIONALITY AND THE PREVENTION OF STATELESSNESS Mr Matthais Reuss of the UNCHR gave the first presentation of the morning entitled “The Right to Nationality and the Prevention of Statelessness”. In his presentation, Mr Reuss gave a brief background and overview about the concept of statelessness and nationality under the definitions of the UNHCR which in Article (1) of the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons define a Stateless Person as “A person who is not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law”. The objectives of the presentation were: i. To create a common understanding amongst Members of the legal notions as well as the consequences of statelessness and the right to nationality ii. To clarify the international human rights framework in relation to this topic. iii. To highlight regional developments and identify opportunities for Members to explore. iv. To clarify the UNHCR’s role and mandate in relation to this topic. Governments were encouraged to focus on eliminating the risks that lead to statelessness through the implementation of several initiatives such as ensuring compulsory issuance of birth certificates at every medical facility at the time of birth, or, where individuals did not give birth in a medical facility due to access or financial constraint, mobile clinics should be set up to allow unregistered babies to be registered. Furthermore, concise laws and procedures should be defined for dealing with individuals who are found to have: no hospital record; mixed parentage; have been born outside the country of nationality of either of their parents; have links to 3|Page