Realising the Child’s Right to a Nationality in South Africa granted Manny permanent residence instead, still suspicious that he may be Angolan, even though years of correspondence with the Angolan embassy proved that he was not.106 South Africa has signed, but not ratified, the outdated 1930 League of Nations Convention on Certain Questions relating to the Conflict of Nationality Law.107 The treaty requires a state party to regard a child who has been found on its territory and whose place of birth is unknown as having been born in its territory.108 It further requires the state in which the child was found to grant citizenship to such a child born, or assumed to be born, in its territory where the parents are unknown.109 This treaty, to which South Africa is not a party, is echoed in the UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, to which South Africa is also not party and as such means little for the practical application of nationality rights of foundlings in South Africa today. The Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness may be of persuasive value in South African courts because of the constitutional requirement that these courts take international law into account when interpreting the Bill of Rights but its weight is questionable.110 Regardless, a foundling child in South Africa should not be required to approach a court to have access to citizenship. The Department, being aware of this gap, is in a position to amend the law now to fulfil its duty toward children found in its territory. The BDRA provides another possible, but vague, avenue to citizenship for foundling children. Section 12 of the BDRA and reg 9 of the Regulations on the Registration of Births and Deaths 2014111 address the registration of births of orphaned or abandoned children. They require the registration of such children, even where their parentage is unknown; however, reg 8 stipulates that where a child is foreign they must be registered as such. 112 The regulation provides no further guidance on how to decide whether a child is foreign, leaving it open to the social worker or Department of Home Affairs official to derive the child’s nationality, likely incorrectly, from their physical features or the rumoured name of the unknown parent. This vagueness leaves the child vulnerable to the racial and ethnic biases of the person to whom the child is at mercy. This ambiguous situation is not good enough to relieve South Africa of its duty of care towards that child. The law needs urgent reform in this area. B Children on the Move — Unaccompanied and Separated Migrant Children at Risk of Statelessness The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (‘ICCPR’) places a duty on member states to adopt the necessary measures domestically to ensure that every child has a nationality at birth, even though states are not obligated to grant 106 ibid. 107 Convention on Certain Questions relating to the Conflict of Nationality Law, opened for signature on 13 April 1930, 989 UNTS 175 (entered into force 13 December 1975). 108 ibid art 14. 109 ibid. 110 Constitution (n 3) s 39(1)(b). 111 BDRA (n 66) s 12; Regulations on the Registration of Births and Deaths 2014, r 9 (Republic of South Africa) (‘RRBD’). 112 RRBD (n 111) r 8. 273