Joint Submission to the Human Rights Council at the 43rd Session of the Universal Periodic Review –
This joint submission to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Romania was submitted by Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Romania, the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion and the European Network on Statelessness.
This submission analyses the right to a nationality and human rights challenges pertaining to statelessness in Romania. It highlights why statelessness remains an issue in Romania, focusing in particular on:
I. Children’s right to a nationality
II. Statelessness determination and access to rights
III. The protection of stateless people previously living in Ukraine
The submission urges reviewing States to make the following recommendations to Romania:
Put in place safeguards in law and practice to ensure that all children born in Romania who would otherwise be stateless acquire Romanian nationality automatically at birth, in accordance with the Convention of the Rights of the Child. Introduce, a full safeguard in nationality law, policy, and practice to ensure that children born in Romania have their nationality determined, irrespective of the status of their parents, to guarantee the child’s right to a nationality. Implement effective awareness-raising campaigns and training programmes to ensure that parents of stateless children are informed of their rights to birth registration and nationality; and birth registration officials register births in a non-discriminatory manner, in line with the CRC. Ensure that policies and practices relating to birth registration take into account UNHCR guidelines and good practice and remove all practical barriers to birth registration, with a particular focus on minority groups including Roma communities, so that all children are registered immediately regardless of their parents’ documentation or residence status. Establish a fair, accessible statelessness determination procedure in law that guarantees procedural rights and safeguards during the procedure (such as the right to remain on the territory, identification of applicants, access to healthcare, work permits, the right to an effective remedy) and leads to a statelessness status and rights in line with the 1954 Convention and UNHCR Guidelines. Provide recognised stateless persons with a right to residence and a route to facilitated naturalisation, along with a full range of rights in line with the 1954 Convention and UNHCR guidance. Extend Temporary Protection to include all stateless persons fleeing Ukraine and ensure that stateless people and people at risk of statelessness who have fled Ukraine can access Temporary Protection and other international protection in Romania without direct discrimination or indirect discriminatory impacts related to race, ethnicity, sex, or lack of nationality. https://www.statelessness.eu/.../joint-submission-human...