Under the international standards found in the 1961 Convention, States may provide nationality to children born within their territory who do not otherwise acquire nationality through two means, either automatically at birth or via application. States may do so automatically by operation of the law at the birth of the child (ex lege). Alternatively, a State may make the grant of nationality at a later date, such as when the child reaches majority, subject to conditions such as continued residence in the State for a prescribed number of years.38 The European Union, in its European Convention on Nationality, requires that States either grant nationality ex lege, or “subsequently, to children who remained stateless, upon an application being lodged with the appropriate authority”.39 The European Convention permits States to make such a grant of nationality contingent on “lawful and habitual residence on its territory for a period not exceeding five years immediately preceding the lodging of the application.”40 The American Convention on Human Rights and the Africa Children’s Charter both contain a clear obligation to grant nationality automatically at birth to children born in their territory who would otherwise be stateless, and do not allow for conditions in the same way as the European Convention.41 The CRC states in Article 3 that “in all actions concerning children… the best interests of the child should be a primary consideration”; taking this into account, a formulation of the law which provides for nationality automatically at birth, or upon application soon after birth is preferable to one which contains onerous requirements of habitual residence or other factors. The burden of proof for showing that a child is stateless must be shared between the claimant and the authorities. Decision makers need to consider Articles 3 and 7 of the CRC and adopt an appropriate standard of proof, for example, that it is established to a ‘reasonable degree’ that a child would be stateless but for the acquisition of the nationality of the State concerned. Requiring a higher standard of proof would leave children at a heightened risk of not being granted nationality.42 Key steps in this regard would entail developing dedicated procedures to determine that an individual is stateless, and adopting a definition of a “stateless person” in domestic law, in line with the definition found in Article 1 of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (hereinafter 1954 Convention)43 , which has acquired the character of a norm of customary international law. 20