21 CHILDREN AND LOSS OR RENUNCIATION OF NATIONALITY As demonstrated by George’s case, presented at the opening of this section, children who have successfully inherited a nationality from their parent(s) may still be exposed to statelessness at some stage due to the actions of their parents and the failure of states to protect their right to a nationality. Research conducted in Albania unearthed a similar case: VASIL’S STORY 25-year old Vasil was born in Albania, to Albanian parents and acquired Albanian nationality at birth. His family migrated to Greece in 1990, when Vasil was a new-born, and after some time they renounced their Albanian citizenship in order to obtain the Greek one. However, they were unsuccessful in acquiring Greek nationality and hence, all the family members – including Vasil who was only a child at the time – were left without citizenship. Later, they returned to Albania, where they currently reside. Vasil was never aware that he did not have any citizenship. He believed that he lacked identification documents because he could not afford any. Vasil had difficulties securing access to food, welfare assistance or other public social programs provided by the government. To reacquire Albanian citizenship was a complicated and expensive procedure for which Vasil needed the help of the Tirana Legal Aid Society (TLAS), an Albanian NGO, and which took almost a year. Once Vasil got an identity card, his son was registered in the Civil Status Office and Vasil was also able to legally marry the mother of his child. After reacquiring Albanian citizenship, Vasil’s family also became eligible to access public services on an equal basis with other citizens and the child was finally able to access hospitals to be vaccinated and to attend kindergarten.167 In both Vasil and George’s cases, their parents took the deliberate decision to voluntarily renounce the nationality of all members of the family. At the time, the laws of Albania and Romania allowed this even though it left them stateless. Both countries have since amended their legislation and now require that a person seeking renunciation has already acquired or has assurances that he/she will acquire another nationality. This is in accordance with the rule that is prescribed by international law.168 Nevertheless, the new safeguard in Romanian legislation is not watertight when it comes to the nationality of children. It is still possible for a child to lose Romanian nationality if both parents have renounced (themselves demonstrating acquisition of another nationality) and the child has left the country with them, even if the child may not have secured a foreign nationality.169 A similarly small, yet critical, gap exists within the Polish legislative framework.170 The Committee on the Rights of the Child has commented on this problematic area of law, recommending in respect of Ukraine in 2011: “that the State party amend legislation so as to guarantee by law and in practice the right of the child to a nationality and not to be deprived of it on any ground and regardless of the status of his/her parents”.171 The Macedonian system provides a good example of how to provide strong assurances against statelessness in the law for the context of renunciation. Not only does it require the submission of documents, along with the request for renunciation of nationality by parents on behalf of their child, showing that the child is guaranteed to acquire another nationality – Macedonian citizenship is also automatically restored if, within one year from the date of renunciation, the foreign nationality has not been acquired. Nationality can also be reacquired by a child where it has been lost by renunciation, if he/she has legally and continuously resided in the country for at least three years by the age of 25. This gives children the possibility of reversing actions relating to their nationality which was taken by their parents, on their behalf, and that they may ultimately not agree with.172