A/HRC/31/29 urged States to refrain from automatically extending the loss or deprivation of nationality to a person’s dependents (see also A/HRC/25/28, para. 24).25 States must provide a child who has been illegally deprived of some or all of the elements of his or her identity with appropriate assistance and protection, with a view to re-establishing speedily his or her identity. An effective remedy must also be available in the context of arbitrary deprivation of nationality (see A/HRC/13/34, A/HRC/25/28 and CRC/C/DOM/CO/3-5).26 15. Universal birth registration is important to promote the realization of children’s right to a nationality. The right of every child to be registered at birth is recognized as a fundamental human right, to be fulfilled irrespective of the question of acquisition of a nationality. By documenting the parental affiliation and place and time of birth of a child, birth registration also provides an important function in helping children to assert their right to nationality. In some cases, the lack of access to birth registration directly hampers recognition by a State of a child as a national.27 The groups found to be most vulnerable to non-registration of birth due to structural discrimination – including undocumented migrants, indigenous, minority and nomadic groups, refugees, internally displaced persons, and stateless persons – also face a greater risk of having their nationality disputed where birth registration cannot be completed. States should pay particular attention to both, removing any barriers to access to registration procedures and to the fulfilment of the right to nationality for children in these circumstances. States should ensure that birth registration is free and accessible for all children, and issue birth certificates to all children born in their territory, without discrimination and irrespective of the parents’ nationality or statelessness, residence or other legal status. III. Access of children to nationality, inter alia, of the country in which they are born if they otherwise would be stateless: existing laws and practices 16. The extent to which children have, in practice, access to the nationality of the country in which they are born if they would otherwise be stateless remains an understudied question (see A/HRC/25/28, para. 28).28 There is a lack of reliable data on the implementation of relevant safeguards, a gap that is also apparent in the reporting of States parties to relevant human rights treaty bodies, including the Committee on the Rights of the Child (see CRC/C/BLR/CO/3-4 and CRC/C/GHA/CO/3-4). A. Overall status of safeguards for children who would otherwise be stateless 17. One of the goals of the UNHCR Global Action Plan to End Statelessness, to be achieved by 2024, is that all States have a provision in their nationality laws to grant nationality to stateless children born in their territory. 29 According to an analysis by 25 26 27 28 29 6 Submissions from France and the Ombudsman of Bulgaria. Examples of efforts to resolve existing situations of statelessness were given in the submissions from Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Côte d’Ivoire and Kyrgyzstan. Submissions from Lebanon and the European Network on Statelessness. None of the submissions from States for the present report included data on access to nationality for stateless children born in their territory. This goal is elaborated under “Action 2: Ensure that no child is born stateless”. Other goals under Action 2 include ensuring that all States have a provision in their nationality law to grant nationality