SECTION 2: Ensuring the Right to Nationality 84. The right to nationality is a fundamental right provided for in a number of international human rights instruments. Ensuring nationality is critical in protecting the rights of children. Nationality could particularly be determinative for children affected by the foreign fighter phenomenon as it relates to jurisdiction and responsibility of a State beyond its territory. Nationality is also closely linked to a State’s duty to admit a child and its responsibility for repatriation, rehabilitation and reintegration. A child’s nationality strongly influences social identity and thus her or his development. This in turn may also have security implications, as children without nationality risk being marginalized and exploited by designated terrorist groups in the long run. may present additional hurdles.150 Currently, most Governments do not offer repatriation assistance to citizens in the conflict zones of Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic, including men and women who are suspected of being “foreign terrorist fighters” and their children.151 Some States also lack representation in those areas and are unable to provide effective consular services. For legal, practical and political reasons, some countries offer such assistance only when their nationals manage to appear at their embassies or consulates and their nationalities are established, including through DNA testing. This situation raises questions as to how these States are implementing their obligations to children who, under the law, are entitled to nationality by descent. 85. Despite the right to nationality being provided for under international law, including in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, children affected by the foreign fighter phenomenon may face a significant risk of becoming stateless. The risk arises broadly in two scenarios. First, a child may be denied recognition as a national because the situation links him or her to the foreign fighter phenomenon. A lack of documentation, such as passports or birth certificates, may make it difficult to establish nationality through her or his parents (jus sanguinis). Some children have only birth certificates issued by non-State actors, including in some cases designated terrorist groups, which are unrecognized by all Member States. Denial of the rights of women and girls to confer their nationality upon their children or nationality laws that are discriminatory on other grounds 86. Second, a child may be affected by the deprivation of nationality as a counter-terrorism measure. Some States have adopted legislation enabling authorities to revoke citizenship under specific circumstances, such as when the return of a citizen is considered to present a threat to national security or the vital interests of the State. In many States, this measure may only be taken only when individuals possess dual or multiple nationalities. Some domestic legislation, however, does not provide protection against statelessness. Any measures that affect the nationality of a 150 S/2016/361, para. 16. 151 Breanda Stoter, “Born in the wrong place: Europe’s Islamic State offspring”, Al-Minotor, 10 January 2018, available at www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/01/islamic-stateiraq-syria-children-mothers-europe-return.html; Abigail R. Esman, “Young But Dangerous: Still No Answer to Handling Europe’s Children of ISIS”, The Investigative Project on Terrorism, 22 January 2018, available at www.investigativeproject. org/7285/young-but-dangerous-still-no-answer-to-handling. 39.