The international legal framework and standards for birth registration and prevention of childhood statelessness The 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness16 is the most detailed treaty in relation to preventing statelessness. It seeks both to prevent statelessness from occurring and to ensure that remedies are available for stateless people. The Convention sets out three main obligations for States Parties to prevent childhood statelessness: 1. To grant nationality to all children born on their territory who would otherwise be stateless (Article 1(1));17 2. To grant nationality to all children born outside the territory who have a parent who is a national of the State Party, if the child would otherwise be stateless (Articles 1(4) and 4); and 3. To grant nationality to any child found abandoned on the State’s territory (Article 2). Article (1)2 lists the only conditions which may be attached to Article (1)1: (a) The State must allow a period of time during adulthood during which a nationality application can be made by a stateless person, without the need for parental consent, but can impose a cut-off age by which applications must be made. (b) The State can require that the applicant has ‘habitually resided’ in the State for a certain period of time, not more than five years immediately preceding the lodging of the application nor ten years in total (UNHCR Guidelines confirm that habitual residence does not imply a lawful residence requirement18); (c) The State can require that the applicant has not been “convicted of an offence against national security nor … sentenced to imprisonment for a term of five years or more on a criminal charge”; and (d) The State can require that the person concerned has always been stateless. The 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (Article 24)19 establishes a child’s right, inter alia, to: have their birth registered immediately after 16 17 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, United Nations, General Assembly Resolution 896 (IX), adopted 30 August 1961. Ibid., Article (1)1 states: “A Contracting State shall grant its nationality to a person born in its territory who would otherwise be stateless. Such nationality shall be granted: (a) at birth, by operation of law, or 18 19 10 (b) upon an application being lodged with the appropriate authority. …” See 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, UNHCR, 21 December 2012, paras. 40-41. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, United Nations, General Assembly resolution 2200 (XXI), adopted 19 December 1966.