the child is registered with the registry office in the Republic of Croatia to be entered in the records as a Croatian citizen before he or she turns 21 years of age.” 7. Article 4(1) of the 1961 Convention requires that “a Contracting State shall grant its nationality to a person, not born in the territory of a Contracting State, who would otherwise be stateless, if the nationality of one of his parents at the time of the person’s birth was that of that State.” While Article 4(2) permits that this rule may be subject to certain conditions, it explicitly requires that children shall be allowed to file an application for citizenship at least until they reach 23 years of age.13 8. Of paramount importance in determining the scope of the 1961 Convention obligations to prevent statelessness among children is the Convention on the Rights of the Child (hereinafter the “CRC”).14 Since Croatia is party to both the 1961 Convention and the CRC, Articles 1-4 of the 1961 Convention must be interpreted in light of the provisions of the CRC, in particular the principle of child’s best interests and the right of every child to acquire a nationality, as set out in Articles 3 and 7 of the CRC respectively.15 9. Based on the aforementioned international norms, UNHCR recommends that a child born abroad to a national of Croatia automatically acquires nationality at birth by operation of law in line with the principle of the best interests of the child and the principle of avoiding statelessness.16 Alternatively, UNHCR recommends that the time limit for registration of children born abroad to be granted Croatian citizenship be changed from 21 to 23 years in accordance with Article 4(2) of the 1961 Convention. 10. According to the Proposal, revised Article 5 of the Act should read as follows: ˝An adult person born abroad after 8 October 1991 whose both parents at the time of his/her birth were Croatian citizens shall acquire Croatian citizenship by origin.˝ 11. UNHCR is concerned that the removal of paras 2 and 317 of Article 5 of the Act currently in force would affect children born abroad who would otherwise be stateless. This is of 13 UNHCR, Guidelines on Statelessness No. 4: Ensuring Every Child's Right to Acquire a Nationality through Articles 14 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 21 December 2012, HCR/GS/12/04, p.7 (para 31) and p.14, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/50d460c72.html. 14 UN General Assembly, Convention on the Rights of the Child, 20 November 1989, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1577, p. 3, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b38f0.html. 15 UNHCR, Guidelines on Statelessness No. 4: Ensuring Every Child's Right to Acquire a Nationality through Articles 1-4 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 21 December 2012, HCR/GS/12/04, pg. 3, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/50d460c72.html. 16 The Explanatory report to the European convention on nationality (ECN), which codifies this principle in Article 4(b), refers to the obligation of avoidance of statelessness as a part of customary international law. See ECN, ETS No. 166, 1997, para. 33: https://rm.coe.int/16800ccde7. 17 Article 5(2) of the Croatian Citizenship Act provides that “[a] child born abroad, one of whose parents is a Croatian citizen at the moment of the child's birth, acquires Croatian citizenship by origin if the child is registered for Croatian citizenship by 18 years of age at a competent authority of the Republic of Croatia abroad or in the Republic of Croatia, or if he or she settles in the Republic of Croatia. A child born abroad, one of whose parents is a Croatian citizen at the moment of the child's birth, and who does not fulfil any of the requirements under paragraph 1 of this Article, acquires Croatian citizenship if he or she would otherwise remain without citizenship.” Furthermore, Article 5(3) 3