39 for otherwise stateless children born in the territory, ENS, Ending Childhood Statelessness: A Study on Italy, 2015, pages 7-14. 114 See the case of Djana. Ibid, pages 15-16. 115 Ibid, pages 14-15. 116 Specific status enjoyed under Latvian domestic law by persons left without a nationality following the country’s independence, who are stateless for the purposes of international law. 117 See Annex 2, second column. 118 See section 2 above. 119 See, for instance, the cases of Erik and Maria outlined above. Moreover, by not also providing for a reasonable opportunity for the child to take action independently of his or her parents to make use of an available safeguard to acquire a nationality, such a policy may also run counter to the principle of respect for the views of the child. See article 12 CRC. 120 In this regard, the Human Rights Committee has, for instance, established that “no discrimination with regard to the acquisition of nationality should be admissible under internal law as between legitimate children and children born out of wedlock or of stateless parents or based on the nationality status of one or both of the parents”. Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 17: Article 24 (Rights of the Child), 7 April 1989, para. 8. 121 See ENS, Good practice guide on statelessness determination and the protection of stateless persons, 2013. 122 Article 6 of the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Macedonia. 123 ENS, Ending Childhood Statelessness: A Study on Macedonia, 2015, page 7. 124 ENS, Ending Childhood Statelessness: A Study on Slovenia, 2015, pages 7-8. 125 Article 12(1), paras 1-2 of the Citizenship Law of Armenia. 126 Article 12(1), para 3 of the Citizenship Law of Armenia. 127 The different conditions relating to residence status requirements are different periods of permanent residence, legal residence, legal residence on the day of birth, legal residence since birth, or a combination of legal and permanent residence. 128 Habitual residence means stable and factual residence. UNHCR, Guidelines on Statelessness no. 4 (HCR/GS/12/04 21 December 2012) paras 40-41. Note that even though States are allowed under the ECN to require legal stay of the child, where states are also party to the 1961 Convention, this stipulation is in violation of their obligations under the latter convention. 129 In accordance with CRC articles 2, 3 and 7. 130 Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observations: Czech Republic, CRC/C/CZE/CO/3-4, 4 August 2011, para. 38; see also Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observations: Lithuania, CRC/C/LTU/CO/2, 17 March 2006, paras. 33-34; Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observations: Switzerland, CRC/C/CHE/CO/2-04, 30 January 2015, para. 31. 131 Above n52, para. 99. 132 Aanvullende Reactie van het Kabinet op het ACVZ-advies Inzake Staatloosheid (Additional Reaction from the Cabinet on the ACVZ-advice Concerning Statelessness) (12 November 2014) 133 In 2013, it was observed that 85 stateless children registered who were born in the territory and were four years or older, yet cannot acquire Dutch nationality because they lack a residence permit. L. van Waas, Stateless People in the Netherlands Deserve Better, Blog for the Statelessness Programme, 13 December 2013. 134 Schedule 2(3) of the British Nationality Act. 135 UNHCR/Asylum Aid, Mapping Statelessness in the United Kingdom (November 2011) 1136-137. In the same period, 145 formerly stateless children that were born on British territory acquired British nationality as a consequence of either of their parents becoming settled or becoming a British citizen. 136 See the examples of Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands given in European Network on Statelessness, Preventing childhood statelessness in Europe: Issues, gaps and good practices, 2014, page 14. 137 See, for instance, Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observations: Czech Republic, CRC/C/CZE/CO/3-4, 4 August 2011. 138 See also section 2 of this report. 139 UNHCR, Guidelines on Statelessness No. 4: Ensuring Every Child’s Right to Acquire a Nationality through Articles 1-4 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, HRC/GS/12/04, 21 December 2012, para. 22. See also Principle 8 of the Council of Europe, Recommendation CM/Rec (2009) 13 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the nationality of children, 9 December 2009: “Register children as being of unknown or undetermined nationality, or classify children’s nationality as being ‘under investigation’ only for as short a period as possible”. 140 Above n52, para. 97. 141 Ibid, paras. 99 and 97. 142 See also the ruling of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child in the case of Children of Nubian Descent v. Kenya, Comm/002/2009, 22 March 2011, in which the Committee holds that “it cannot be in these children’s best interests to leave them in a legal limbo for such a long period of time”. 143 The information presented in this paragraph is taken from UNHCR, Mapping Statelessness in Finland, November 2014, page 19. 144 Annex 2, third column. 145 See further section 5 of this report. Section 16 and Section 7(1) and 7(2) of the Act on Norwegian Citizenship. Article 8 of the Law on Romanian Citizenship. 148 Articles 26 and 30 of the Federal Law on the acquisition and loss of Swiss nationality. 149 Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observations: Switzerland, CRC/C/CHE/CO/2-04, 30 January 2015. 150 See for instance ENS, Ending Childhood Statelessness: A Study on Romania, 2015. 151 Ibid, page 9. 152 George’s story is told in more detail in the ENS publication Ending Childhood Statelessness: A Study on Romania, 2015. 153 Where the child’s parents are EU citizens, this causes the child to also be excluded from the benefits of EU citizenship. See further section 2. 154 States are free to impose such additional conditions, as long as these are not discriminatory in nature, just as they are able to choose between a primarily jus soli or jus sanguinis-based system. However, safeguards should again be in place to ensure that statelessness does not result. See article 4 of the 1961 Convention. 155 ENS, Preventing childhood statelessness in Europe: Issues, gaps and good practices, 2014, pages 16-17. 156 Above n51. 157 Note that by the time the European Court of Human Rights decided on the Genovese case, the law in Malta had already been amended to introduce gender equality. In the 2014 ENS report on preventing childhood statelessness, Finland was also identified as having problematic legislation as it distinguishes between children born in and out of wedlock with respect to the paternal jus sanguinis provisions. However, a separate section of the Finnish Nationality Act does allow children born abroad and out of wedlock to a Finnish father to acquire a nationality through a declaration procedure. It is considered to be in line with international law. See UNHCR, Mapping Statelessness in Finland, November 2014. 158 E. Ersboll, Report on Citizenship Law: Denmark, EUDO Citizenship Observatory, revised and updated July 2015, page 33; Information provided online on the current citizenship law of Sweden by the Migration Agency (July 2015). 159 J. Stern and G. Valchars, Country Report: Austria, EUDO Citizenship Observatory, revised and updated September 2013, pages 19-20. 160 See also section 5 on the challenge of securing a nationality for children born from international surrogacy. 161 In this particular instance, the children were not left stateless, nevertheless the lack of access to Polish nationality in such circumstances could easily lead to statelessness in similar cases. See further the ENS publication Ending Childhood Statelessness: A Study on Poland, 2015, page 11. 162 See above, n52. 163 In this case, because the children were born from an international surrogacy arrangement, prohibited in French law. See further section 5. 164 European Court of Human Rights, Oliari and others v. Italy, Application No. 18766/11 and 36030/11, 21 July 2015. 165 See ENS publication Ending Childhood Statelessness: A Study on Poland, 2015, page 13. 166 ENS, Ending Childhood Statelessness: A Study on Slovenia, 2015. 167 Extract from ENS, Ending Childhood Statelessness: A Study on Albania, 2015, page 10. 168 Article 7(1) of the 1961 Convention; article 8(1) of the ECN. This safeguard is also upheld in the legislation of many European states. See, for instance, ENS, Ending Childhood Statelessness: A Study on Latvia, 2015; ENS, Ending Childhood Statelessness: A Study on Macedonia, 2015; ENS, Ending Childhood Statelessness: A Study on Albania, 2015. 169 ENS, Ending Childhood Statelessness: A Study on Romania, 2015. 170 ENS, Ending Childhood Statelessness: A Study on Poland, 2015. 171 Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observations: Ukraine, CRC/C/UKR/CO/3-4, 21 April 2011, para. 38. 172 ENS, Ending Childhood Statelessness: A Study on Macedonia, 2015. 173 Note that in order to benefit from the right of option for Dutch nationality as an otherwise stateless child born in the country, the law requires the child to hold lawful residence – contrary to the Netherlands’ obligations under the 1961 Convention – and the authorities must recognize that the child is, indeed, stateless. There are many children born in the country who experience difficulties in practice because their nationality has been registered as ���unknown”. See further section 3 of this report. 174 Marysia’s story is told in more detail in the ENS publication Ending Childhood Statelessness: A Study on Poland, 2015. 175 This is found in article 14 of the Convention. 176 ENS, Ending Childhood Statelessness: A Study on Latvia, 2015. In Slovenia, for instance, the Ministry of Interior also confirmed that the foundling provision can be applied in any relevant case where the person is still a child, i.e. under the age of 18. ENS, Ending Childhood Statelessness: A Study on Slovenia, 2015. See also ENS, Preventing childhood statelessness in Europe: Issues, gaps and good practices, 2014, page 19. 177 See also the similar case of Agni, also reported in ENS, Ending Childhood Statelessness: A Study on Poland, 2015. 178 ENS, Preventing childhood statelessness in Europe: Issues, gaps and good practices, 2014, page 20. See further G. Gyulai, Nationality Unknown? An 146 147