Statelessness Working Paper Series No. 2016/05 declaration, setting out that "Article 9, paragraph 1 of the Convention is not in conflict with the (…) provisions of the Turkish Law on Nationality, relating to the acquisition of citizenship, since the intent of those provisions regulating acquisition of citizenship through marriage is to prevent statelessness.45" Later in 1999, Turkey decided to withdraw its reservations made upon accession with regard to Article 15 (2) and (4), and Article 16 (1) (c), (d), (f). Nonetheless, it maintained that its reservation and declaration made with respect to Article 9(1) of the Convention.46 As a result, equal nationality rights are not yet guaranteed in Turkey either. Further to that, for Syrian babies born outside their home country, acquiring a birth certificate that provides evidence of the name of the Syrian father is absolutely crucial, regardless of the country where they are actually born. Consequently, beyond the shortcomings of biased national legislations explained above, addressing birth registration practices applied in MENAT countries of concern hosting millions of Syrian refugees are an absolute prerequisite to address childhood statelessness in the region. Failing to provide Syrian newborns with appropriate birth certificates47 contributes to the creation of new cases of statelessness. 3. Relevant EU external policy framework to address statelessness 3.1. EU legal principles in the context of the fight against statelessness The EU acknowledges and stands for certain core values that it deems important to promote within and beyond its borders with a view to fostering them in the Member States, as well as in non-EU countries. These values are generally shared by the international community at large and may be translated into international norms which evolved over time, including the respect of human rights48 and the rule of law among others. These norms inspired the emergence of widely accepted principles of EU law, including proportionality, legal certainty, gender equality, equality before the law, nondiscrimination, subsidiarity, equity, good faith, solidarity, effective remedies, respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities; all having due relevance to statelessness.49 Statelessness as a human rights issue intersects not only with other EU human rights priorities50 but with most of the aforementioned EU legal principles as well. For instance, relating to the proportionality of state actions rendering populations stateless, touching upon gender-discriminative nationality laws in the light of the principle of non-discrimination and gender equality, as well as considering the principle of legal certainty in cases of determining statelessness. 3.2. Putting statelessness higher on the European foreign policy agenda Nationality issues, including prevention and reduction of statelessness, are primarily regulated through nationality laws, which are within the competence of the Member States. This is because nationality law is generally considered to be politically sensitive in many regards and treated as a sovereign issue accordingly. The protection of stateless persons, however, might be regulated through migration law where the EU has competence,51 established by Article 67(2) in conjunction with Article 352 of the 45 Available at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/reservations-country.htm. The reservation and declaration made with respect to Article 29 and Article 9 continue to apply. 47 Birth certificates help to confirm a child’s nationality by providing proof of birth. Thus, problematic birth registration practices, similarly to biased nationality laws, directly prevent children from acquiring their right to a nationality, provided under international law, by creating a lack of due evidence of the facts of birth. 48 Including the prohibition of arbitrary deprivation of nationality set out in Article 15 (2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 49 Widely recognized general principles of EU law stem from both international norms and the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice and the Member States’ courts in application of primary sources of EU law (inter alia EU Treaties, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights). 50 Including minority rights, children’s rights, women’s rights, freedom of religion, etc. 51 M den Heijer, K Swider, Why Union Law Can and Should Protect Stateless Persons, ACIL Research Paper 2016-14, Amsterdam Center for International Law, University of Amsterdam, August 2016. 46 5