UNHCR welcomes the fact that Latvia’s Parliament has adopted legislative changes that will entitle children born after 1 January 2020 to parents who are considered “non-citizens” under the law to automatic Latvian citizenship at birth.
Access to nationality, in particular for children, is a fundamental human right recognized in international legal instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
The bill adopted by the Latvian Parliament is an important step towards ensuring that children are not born without a nationality. It is a welcome development towards achieving the goals of the UNHCR Global Campaign to End Statelessness by 2024 (“#IBelong Campaign”) and provides other countries a positive example.
UNHCR October 2019
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