A/HRC/31/29 juridical personality and to a name and the right to equal protection, all in relation to the rights of the child”.58 32. The registration of births, protected in article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is one of the means through which the right of a child to an identity is preserved and recognized. Stateless children, and in particular the children of stateless parents, are more likely to face legal and practical barriers in their access to birth registration. They also face barriers to obtaining various other legal documents. 59 33. Target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals is to provide, by 2030, legal identity for all, including birth registration. The arbitrary deprivation of nationality of children is a significant barrier to the realization of this target, which will not be fully met unless articles 7 and 8 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child are universally respected and fulfilled and childhood statelessness has been eradicated. B. Right to education 34. Article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights protect every child’s right to education. They guarantee free and compulsory primary education for all, and set various standards in relation to higher education. Both the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Committee on the Rights of the Child have recognized that neither non-citizenship nor statelessness should have a bearing on the enjoyment of the right to education.60 One of the most commonly reported effects of statelessness on children is, however, the barrier that this imposes on their access to education. 61 As noted by the Secretary-General in a previous report on the arbitrary deprivation of nationality, the difficulties faced by non-citizen children in their access to education are indirectly yet closely linked to their non-citizenship (A/HRC/19/43, para. 37). Barriers to education also play a major role in limiting job opportunities for stateless children as they grow into adulthood. C. Right to the highest attainable standard of health 35. Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights stipulates the right to health. Similarly, article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child includes an obligation for States to recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health. According to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, States are under an obligation to respect the right to health by, inter alia, refraining from denying or limiting equal access for all persons, including 58 59 60 61 Case of the Yean and Bosico Children v. The Dominican Republic, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, judgement of 8 September 2005. Submission from the Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan. See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 13 (1999), para. 6 (b); and Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 6 (2005), para. 41. See also Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general recommendation No. 30, para. 30; A/HRC/14/25 and A/HRC/17/29 and Corr.1); and Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, art. 22. See A/HRC/19/43, para. 36. See also E/C.12/1/Add.24, para. 8; E/C.12/1/Add.103, paras. 24 and 45; CRC/C/15/Add.99, para. 16; CRC/C/15/Add.131, paras. 47 and 49; CRC/C/15/Add.185, para. 27; CRC/C/15/Add.203, para. 36; CRC/C/15/Add.244, para. 53; and CRC/C/15/Add.254), para. 37. 11

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