SAHNI ARTICLE 3.3.21 (WORD) (DO NOT DELETE) 114 Gonzaga Journal of International Law 5/6/2021 7:21 PM Vol. 24:2 Article 24(3) ensures that “[e]very child has the right to acquire a nationality.”16 Article 24(2) instructs legal enforcement of this right by requiring a new born child to be named and registered immediately. 17 This procedure necessitates that the State grants documentary proof of birth to the child by maintaining birth records and issuing birth certificates, which act also as identification papers.18 However, according to the U.N. Human Rights Committee in its ‘General Comment No 17: Article 24 (Rights of the Child),’ Article 24(2) does not guarantee automatic birth right nationality. 19 A State where a child is born does not have to offer nationality to a child who may be eligible to receive the nationality of another State.20 It is required, though, to bestow nationality to a child who would be stateless otherwise.21 The 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness codified this requirement. 22 Yet, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which came into force in 1990, refrains from expressly mandating States to grant nationality to stateless children.23 Article 7.2 partially compensates by instructing States to implement the registration and nationality requirements stipulated in Article 7.1.24 Still, it remains restrictive for it requires Member States to comply under international instruments and their own domestic laws, which may lack the applicable implementation procedures and mechanisms. While there is no statutory legal definition of ‘nationality’ or ‘right to nationality’ under international law, the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons defines a ‘stateless person.’25 However, the definition relies on possession of nationality as the determining criteria. 26 Article 1 of the Convention defines a stateless person as a “person who is not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law.”27 It applies only to stateless persons whom the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is giving protection or assistance to. Moreover, Article 1.2(iii)(a)(b)(c) incorporates exemption clause Article 1(F)(a)(b)(c) of 16. 17. 18. 19. Id. at art. 24(3). Id. at art. 24(2). Id. Human Rights Comm., General Comment No. 17: Article 24 (Rights of the child), in Compilation of General Comments and General Recommendations Adopted by Human Rights Treaty Bodies 193, 195, U.N. Doc. HRI/GEN/1/Rev. 9 (Vol. 1) (2008). 20. Id. 21. Id. 22. G.A. Res 896 (IX), Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, at art. I(a) (Aug. 30, 1961) (“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…”). [hereinafter 1961 Statelessness Convention]. 23. United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 7, ¶¶ 1, 2, Nov. 20, 1989, 1577 U.N.T.S. 3. 24. Id. 25. 1954 Stateless Convention, supra note 7. 26. Id. 27. Id.