Mr. Beneco Enecia, Center for Sustainable Development (CEDESO), provided his inputs to the discussion drawing from his experience of addressing statelessness in Dominican Republic, mostly affecting people of Haitian descent. He emphasized the important role regional courts and human rights mechanisms can play in ensuring the right to a nationality, making a reference to the decision of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 2005 addressing statelessness in Dominican Republic. He stated that restrictive laws often posed arbitrary and discriminatory requirements for minorities for acquisition of nationality, referring to the challenges faced by Haitian-descended Dominicans. He highlighted the importance of ratifying the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. He recommended to cooperate with UNHCR and civil society in identifying persons who are stateless or at risk of statelessness, He recommended to take the necessary measures to avoid arrest or expulsions of stateless persons. He emphasized the need to recognize and adopt comprehensive measures to combat discrimination, racism, xenophobia and hate speech as a preventive measure to combat statelessness. He emphasized the importance of addressing comprehensively the link between the denial of nationality, discrimination and xenophobia. Mr. Amal de Chickera, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, referred to Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which stipulates the right to a nationality for all children, particularly if they otherwise would be stateless. Similarly he referred to target 16.9 of Sustainable Development Goals calling on providing legal identity for all. By referring to importance of legislation to ensure the right to a nationality, he reaffirmed the need of understanding that unfortunately despite the fact that laws and policies should be designed to protect human beings, in some cases arbitrary or discriminatory laws can cause statelessness. He also mentioned that in other cases legislation is comprehensive and ensures the right to a nationality for minorities, however, additional procedural and administrative requirements impede its application and are burdensome for minorities. He emphasized the need to address these procedural and administrative barriers, such as standard of proof, language, etc. Amal de Chickera highlighted the role of lawyers and paralegals in ensuring that stateless people have access to mechanisms to obtain citizenship, as well as encouraged awareness-raising activities on how to obtain citizenship. He also referred to naturalization, mentioning that in their own countries people should have the right to nationality without naturalization being seen as a discretion. He also welcomed the suggestion from the participants to have national action plan to tackle statelessness of minorities, however, he further elaborated that such national action plans should be comprehensive and address deeper structural problems and root causes of statelessness of minorities. He also stressed the importance of recognizing the impact of intersecting forms of discrimination, mentioning that, for example women, persons with disabilities from stateless minority communities bear the burden of additional barriers and discrimination. In conclusion he advised to hold consultations with affected communities and stateless minorities, as well as United Nations and civil society in addressing the matter. Discussion The following issues were raised during the discussion under Item IV: 10