Too old to be a ‘foundling’? – International standards and comparative analysis – cases, such as in cases of informal adoption from the countries reviewed, they tend to be found as older children, as also seen in section IV.G. H. Meaning of Being ‘Found’ in the Territory An important question closely linked to the maximum age of a foundling when found is the definition of being ‘found’ in the territory under Article 2 of the 1961 Convention. In the above section III. C above, it was concluded that ‘having been born in the territory’ is included in the term ‘found’. The question then is: when a child’s birth in the territory has not been established, what circumstances can constitute ‘being found’ in the territory? Some may link the term ‘found’ with an abandoned newborn who is passively ‘discovered’ by the police while crying out for help on a street. However, paragraph 59 of the 2012 UNHCR Guidelines No. 4, in the context of addressing the issue of the age limit for the foundling provision to apply, states: If a state provides for an age limit for foundlings to acquire nationality, the age of the child at the date the child was found is decisive and not the date when the child came to the attention of the authorities (emphasis added). This means that a person of unknown parentage can be found by any third person other than the authorities. This is supported by some legal precedents.101 Ultimately, being ‘found in the territory’ under Article 2 of the 1961 Convention can be broadly defined as ‘having been born in the territory or having been seen or observed in the territory by a person other than one’s parents’, or something to that effect. Alternative interpretations would render many children stateless, which is against the object and purpose of the 1961 Convention and equivalent national legislation. I. Conclusions of Section III: Foundling is a Child of Unknown Parents Based on the analysis of the evolution from Article 14 of the 1930 Convention to Article 2 of the 1961 Convention, the comparative analysis of the 142 domestic foundling provisions and their actual applications in some states, this article first clarified that the term ‘foundling’ indeed should be defined as ‘a child of unknown parents’. As reflected in legal precedents in different countries in section III.G, there are a variety of circumstances where human beings qualify as being of ‘unknown parents’. Terms such as ‘abandoned child’ or ‘child found (in the territory)’ are not the most suitable definition or translation of the term ‘foundling’. Abandoned children are not always of ‘unknown parents’ or otherwise stateless, and one does not have to be intentionally and physically ‘abandoned’ to be of unknown parents. Section III.G further demonstrated that ‘a child of unknown parents’ does not necessarily mean that the parents are factually unknown. Rather, it essentially means the parents are legally unknown; either there exists no legally recognised parent for the person concerned, or, a legal parent(s) is supposed to exist, but such existence cannot be proven. While a foundling’s ‘place of birth’ is frequently ‘unknown’, it is often the case that the place of birth of a foundling is ‘known’, as is the case for newborns left behind at hospitals by their birth mothers. In order for a child to be regarded as a ‘foundling’, therefore, being of ‘unknown parents’ is a necessary condition, but being of ‘unknown place of birth’ is not; this is why the latter is not included in the foundling definition. Furthermore, being ‘found in the territory’ itself is a ‘condition’ giving rise to the obligation of the state where the foundling was found but does not constitute part of the definition of who or what a foundling is.102 101 The definition of being ‘found’ in the territory is extensively discussed in chap 6, especially sec 6.5 of Kaneko-Iwase, Nationality of Foundlings (n 2) 253. 102 See sec. 3.1, Kaneko-Iwase, Nationality of Foundlings (n 2) 78. European University Institute 24