revisions of the Ivorian Nationality Code must also take into account Côte d’Ivoire’s obligations as a State party to the two statelessness conventions, as discussed in detail in Section 0. 3.2.1. Nationality by origin The foundational provision establishing Ivorian nationality by origin is set out in Article 6 as follows: Is Ivorian: 1- The child born in Côte d’Ivoire in wedlock or legitimated, except if both of his or her parents are foreigners. 2- The child born in Côte d’Ivoire out of wedlock, unless his or her filiation is established to two foreign parents, or only one parent, who is also a foreigner.77 For its part, Article 7 enshrines jus sanguinis for children born abroad to an Ivorian parent: Is Ivorian: 1- The child born in wedlock or legitimated, born abroad to an Ivorian parent; 2- The child born out of wedlock, abroad, whose filiation is legally established with respect to one Ivorian parent. Article 9 requires that birth and filiation must be established in accordance with Ivorian civil status law in order to have an effect with respect to nationality. Those who possess Ivorian nationality by origin pursuant to Articles 6 or 7 benefit from all rights attached to Ivorian nationality from birth, even if the facts that prove nationality by origin are established only after birth (Article 8). There are several ways the language of Articles 6 and 7 could be streamlined to overcome persistent ambiguities and ensure that those who qualify can effectively possess Ivorian nationality by origin in practice. For example, if Ivorian legislators confirm that descent should serve as the primary principle behind Côte d’Ivoire’s nationality law, as is its current effect, Article 6’s reference to a child’s birth in Côte d’Ivoire remains superfluous, given that the ultimate criteria for the attribution of Ivorian nationality by origin is birth to at least one Ivorian parent. Furthermore, who constitutes a “foreigner” remains undefined in Ivorian law and subject to arbitrary interpretation. It would be beneficial for future law reform to provide an explicit benchmark distinguishing who is to be considered a foreigner by law. Finally, the introduction of distinctions in Article 6 between those born in and out of wedlock, with the latter requiring legal filiation to at least one Ivorian parent for Article 6 to take effect, creates additional administrative obstacles for children born out of wedlock to demonstrate their right to Ivorian nationality by origin in light of the complex procedures to establish filiation. Reformulating the Ivorian Nationality Code to reflect its ultimate preference for jus sanguinis would allow for the fusion of Articles 6 and 7. This, combined with eliminating distinctions between children born in and out of wedlock, could potentially yield a clear and simplified way of attributing Ivorian nationality by origin in a formula like: “Is Ivorian: the child born to one Ivorian parent.”78 Such a simplified formulation not only captures the underlying essence of Ivorian nationality by origin as originally designed by Côte d’Ivoire’s founding legislators in 1961, but would also serve as 77 In other words, one parent of a child born out of wedlock could be an Ivorian national, but if filiation is not established to the Ivorian parent, the child would not acquire Ivorian nationality by origin. 78 Recently, Senegal adopted the first amendments to its Nationality Code, also inspired by the French model at independence in 1960, with a similar simplified provision in its Article 5: “Every child born to a Senegalese first-degree ascendant [parent] is Senegalese.” Loi No. 2013-05 portant modification de la Loi no. 61-10 du 07 mars 1961 déterminant la nationalité, modifiée [Senegal]. 21