A/HRC/31/29 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 26/14, the Human Rights Council requested the Secretary-General, in consultation with States, United Nations agencies and other relevant stakeholders, to prepare a report on the impact that the arbitrary deprivation of nationality has on the enjoyment of the rights of children concerned, as well as on the existing laws and practices on accessibility for children to acquire nationality, inter alia, of the country in which they are born, if they otherwise would be stateless, and to present it to the Council before its thirty-first session. The present report is submitted pursuant to that request. Contributions were received from 23 Member States, 10 national human rights institutions and five nongovernmental organizations. 2. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that there are approximately 10 million stateless people, over a third of whom are children. Given that a stateless child is born at least every 10 minutes, statelessness among children is a growing problem.1 II. The right of every child to acquire a nationality: international legal framework 3. The right of everyone to a nationality is enshrined in article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is recognized in many other international and regional human rights instruments (see A/HRC/13/34, paras. 3-18). The fundamental nature of the right to a nationality and the prohibition of arbitrary deprivation of nationality (see ibid., para. 23) have been reaffirmed by the General Assembly in its resolution 50/152 and the Human Rights Council in its resolutions 7/10, 10/13, 13/2, 20/5 and 26/14. States must enact laws governing the acquisition, renunciation and loss of nationality in a manner that is consistent with their international obligations, including in the field of human rights. In particular, States have a responsibility to prevent and reduce statelessness, in appropriate cooperation with the international community, in accordance with Assembly resolution 61/137 and Council resolution 26/14. 4. According to article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, children should be registered immediately after birth and have the right from birth to acquire a nationality. Article 7 places emphasis on the avoidance of statelessness by specifying that States parties should ensure the implementation of these rights, in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless. Article 5(d) (iii) of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and article 9 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women state that the right to nationality is to be enjoyed without any discrimination on the basis of race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin, or sex. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights also states, in article 24(3), that every child has the right to acquire a nationality. The same right is enshrined for children of migrant workers in article 29 of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, and for children with disabilities, in article 18(2) of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In accordance with the prohibition of arbitrary deprivation of nationality, article 8 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and article 25(4) of the International Convention for 1 2 UNHCR, I am here, I belong: the urgent need to end childhood statelessness, November 2015, p. 1.