118. It has become clear from answers to the rare parliamentary questions relating to statelessness that the Dutch government does not share this view. On 26 February 2008, the Minister of Justice, answering questions by MP Azough concerning stateless children in the Netherlands, stated that Dutch nationality law contains very lenient conditions for stateless persons who wish to acquire Dutch nationality. The Minister inter alia pointed to Article 6(1)b, which permits a stateless person born in the Netherlands to apply for Dutch nationality, provided that he or she has been admitted to the Netherlands and has had his or her principal place of residence there for a continuous period of at least three years prior to lodging an application. The Minister stated that “in principle this means that a stateless child born in the Netherlands and legally residing there has a right to opt for Dutch nationality after his or her third birthday”.167 119. The Minister pointed out that when confronted with a stateless child born in the Netherlands, the legislation of the State of which the parent(s) hold(s) nationality should be applied in order to know whether this State recognizes the child as a national. Although this could be a difficult and time-consuming procedure, the Minister was of the opinion that one could not conclude that a child was stateless if it was (merely) difficult to acquire the relevant foreign documents. As the Dakar Summary Conclusions affirm: “Some States may make a finding that a child is of ‘undetermined nationality’. When this occurs, States should seek to determine whether a child is otherwise stateless as soon as possible so as not to prolong a child’s status of undetermined nationality. For the application of Articles 1 and 4 of the 1961 Convention, such a period should not exceed five years which is the maximum period of residence which may be required under Article 1(2)(b) of the Convention where a State has an application procedure in place… Responsibility to grant nationality to otherwise stateless children is not engaged where a child is born in a State’s territory and is stateless, but could acquire the nationality of a parent by registration with a State of nationality of a parent, or a similar procedure such as declaration or exercise of a right of option. However, as a general rule it is only acceptable for Contracting States to maintain an exception for granting their nationality to children who would otherwise be stateless if a child can acquire the nationality of a parent immediately after birth and the State of a parent does not have any discretion to refuse the grant of nationality…”168 120. More recently, on 23 December 2010, the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, answering parliamentary questions related to a Dutch study on statelessness among the Roma population (Stateloos maakt radeloos), took the same position as was adopted on 26 February 2008.169 In particular, the Minister noted that Article 6(1)b DNA was not contrary to Article 1(1) of the 1961 Convention, Article 6(2)b ECN or Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 48 167 Emphasis added. Tweede Kamer, vergaderjaar 2007-2008, Aanhangsel. No. 1455, pp. 3115–3116. 168  NHCR, “Interpreting the 1961 Statelessness Convention and Preventing Statelessness among U Children”, Summary Conclusions, Expert Meeting, Dakar, Senegal, September 2011, para. 14. See also G.-R. de Groot, “A clarification of the fundamental rights implications of stateless and persons erased from the register of residents”, 5, who argues in connection with Article 10 ECN that “if no information can be acquired within a reasonable time, the person involved should be deemed to be stateless”. 169 Tweede Kamer, vergaderjaar 2010–2011, Aanhangsel nr. 640. Mapping statelessness