case, the right to respect for private and family life is a firmly established principle in international and regional law that needs to be upheld.15 Deprivation of nationality of a family member increases the risk of that person being expelled, refused (re)admission or arbitrarily detained. This may result in a violation of the right to family life, i.e. the right to family life of both the person being deprived of his or her nationality and their family members (in particular the parents and their minor children and immediate family members). This is because they may all be denied the effective enjoyment of family life.16 The European Court on Human Rights, for instance, has affirmed that the best interest of minor children should be taken into account in the balancing exercise with regard to expulsion of a parent, including the hardship of returning to the country of origin of the parent.17 20. In particular, the four guiding principles of the CRC- non-discrimination, the best interests of the child, respect for the views of the child and the right to life, survival and development - individually and cumulatively, can be adversely impacted by deprivation of nationality. Indeed, many children who are deprived of the nationality of a country they consider their own have to deal with discrimination from an early age.18 It has also been shown that children who are deprived of their nationality and/or are stateless cannot access certain important rights, including health care and education, which has a negative impact on the development of the child.19 Furthermore, according to Article 3 of the CRC “in all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration”. 21. The Principles on Deprivation of Nationality as a National Security Measure,20 and the UNHCR Guidelines on Statelessness No 5: Loss and Deprivation of Nationality21 provide important guidance on the question of deprivation of nationality; the former, from a wider international law perspective, and the latter, more specifically in relation to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Accordingly, state discretion in this area is subject to the individual right to a 15 CRC, Article 16; UDHR, Article 12; ICCPR, Article 7; CMW, Article 14 ; ECHR, Article 8 ; ACRWC, Article 10 ; the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, Article 7; ACHR, Article 11. 16 To this end, the European Court of Human Rights has examined the best interest and well-being of the children, in particular the seriousness of the difficulties which any children of the applicant are likely to encounter in the country to which the applicant is to be expelled; and the solidity of social, cultural and family ties with the host country and with the country of destination. For more information, please see ECtHR, Üner v. the Netherlands (2006), Application no. 45410/99, para. 56; Udeh v. Switzerland (2013), Application no. 12020/09, para. 52. 17 ECtHR, Jeunesse v. the Netherlands (2014), Application No. 12738.10, para. 117-118. 18 UNHCR, ‘I Am Here, I Belong. The Urgent Need to End Childhood Statelessness‘ ;November 2015, available at: https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/wp-content/uploads/2015-10-StatelessReport_ENG16.pdf 19 Ibid. 20 Principles on Deprivation of Nationality as a National Security Measure, March 2020, Available at: https://files.institutesi.org/PRINCIPLES.pdf. The Principles were drafted by The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion in collaboration with the Open Society Justice Initiative and with support from the Asser Institute and Ashurst LLP. They were developed over a 30-month research and consultation period, with input from more than 60 leading experts in the field of human rights, nationality and statelessness, counter-terrorism, refugee protection, child rights, migration and other related areas. At the time of submission, they have been endorsed by over 100 individual experts and organisations, including leading academics, UN Special Rapporteurs and Treaty Body members, litigators, judges, parliamentarians and diplomats. The Principles restate or reflect international law and legal standards under the UN Charter, treaty law, customary international law, general principles of law, judicial decisions and legal scholarship, regional and national law and practice. They articulate the international law obligations of States and apply to all situations in which States take or consider taking steps to deprive a person of nationality as a national security measure. More information is available here: https://www.institutesi.org/year-of-action-resources/principles-on-deprivation-of-nationality. 21 UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Guidelines on Statelessness No.5: Loss and Deprivation of Nationality under Articles 59 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, May 2020, HCR/GS/20/05, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5ec5640c4/html. The Guidelines provide guidance on the interpretation of Articles 5 – 9 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. They draw on the Summary Conclusions of the Expert Meeting on Interpreting the 1961 Statelessness Convention and Avoiding Statelessness Resulting from Loss and Deprivation held in Tunis, Tunisia on 31 October-1 November 2013 (“Tunis Conclusions”) and the Expert Meeting on Developments related to Deprivation of Nationality held in Geneva, Switzerland on 5-6 December 2019 5