206 The Obligation to Grant Nationality to Stateless Children Under Treaty Law to it, and there are a large number of pledges to adhere to it in the near future,10 which means its impact will likely grow. For the time being, it is only those states that are party to the 1961 Convention that have a treaty obligation to grant nationality to stateless children born in their territory.11 In addition, the 1961 Statelessness Convention has several exceptions and conditions to its requirement that states grant nationality to stateless children born in the state. The first condition is that a state may require an application during a particular time frame for nationality rather than grant nationality ex lege.12 The second exception is that a state may require the child’s family to have a habitual residence in the state in order for nationality to be extended.13 Also, the state need not extend its nationality to a child who has not “always been stateless”.14 The last limitation, though not generally relevant for children, is that states may withhold their nationality from individuals with serious criminal records.15 All of these provisions limit the application, and thus the utility, of the 1961 Statelessness Convention for stateless children born in a state. However, other treaties can partially address these shortcomings. In addition to the statelessness conventions, there are number of other universal treaties that provide for a right to a nationality.16 The right to nationality has been included in most major international human rights treaties,17 and some authorities believe that the right to nationality is even a non-derogable right.18 Specifically, those treaties include the 1957 Convention on the Nationality of Married Women,19 the ICCPR,20 the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD),21 the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),22 the International 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 See e.g. EU, ‘Note Verbale to the United Nations containing Pledge Registration Form’ (UN 2012) §A, para 4 <https://www.un.org/ ruleoflaw/files/Pledges%20by%20the%20European%20Union.pdf> accessed 7 May 2019 (EU Member States pledged at the UN High Level Rule of Law Meeting in New York in September 2012 to address the issue of statelessness by ratifying the 1954 UN Convention relating to the status of stateless persons and considering the ratification of the 1961 UN Convention on the reduction of statelessness). See 1961 Statelessness Convention at art 1(1). Note that of the states mentioned in the introduction, several have become parties to the Convention, specifically, Sweden since Apr 2 1965, Latvia since Nov 5, 1999, Ukraine since Mar 25, 2013 and Côte d’Ivoire as of Oct 3, 2013. See id at art 1(1)(b), (2)(a). See id at art 1(2)(b). See id at art 1(2)(d). See id at art 1(2)(c). See Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted 10 December 1948) UNGA Res 217 A(III) (UDHR) art 15(1); International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (adopted 16 December 1966, entered into force 23 March 1976) 999 UNTS 171 (ICCPR) art. 24(3); Convention on the Rights of the Child (adopted 20 November 1989) 1577 UNTS 3 (CRC) art 7; 1954 Stateless Convention, art 1; 1961 Statelessness Convention, art 1(1); International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (adopted 21 December 1965) 660 UNTS 195 (CERD) art. 5(d)(iii); International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (adopted 18 December 1990) 2220 UNTS 3 (Migrant Workers Convention) art 29. See Convention on Conflict of Nationality Laws (adopted 12 April 1930) 179 LNTS 89, art 1; Protocol relating to a Certain Case of Statelessness (adopted 12 April 1930) 179 LNTS 115; in some of these instruments, the protection is for the right to legal identity, which includes nationality; UN Human Rights Council, ‘Report of the Secretary-General. Human Rights and Arbitrary Deprivation of Nationality’ (December 19 2013) UN Doc A/HRC/25/28; International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (adopted 20 December 2006) 2716 UNTS 3, art 25(4); UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, ‘CERD General Recommendation XXX on Discrimination Against Non Citizens’ (adopted 1 October 2002) paras 13–14; other general provisions pertaining to the right to equal protection of the law, the right to the recognition of one’s own legal status, the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of the State and the right to enter one’s own country: CERD, art 5(d)(iii); ICCPR, arts 12(4), 23(4), 26; Borzov v. Estonia (2004) 12 IHRR 122.s. See Case of Expelled Dominicans & Haitians v Dominican Republic, Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) Series C No 282 (28 August 2014) para 253; Yean & Bosico Children v. Dominican Republic, IACHR Series C No 130 (8 September 2005) paras 136–8; Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, ‘American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man’ (1948); UDHR, art 15(1); ICCPR, art 24(3); CRC, art 7(1); Migrant Workers Convention, art 29; 1961 Statelessness Convention, art 1(1). Convention on the Nationality of Married Women, 1957, arts 1–3. See ICCPR, art 24(3); UN Human Rights Council Decision 2/111 (27 November 2006); UN Human Rights Council Resolution 13/2, ‘Human rights and Arbitrary Deprivation of Nationality‘ (14 April 2010) UN Doc A/HRC/RES/13/2; UN Human Rights Council Res 10/13, ‘Human rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality’ (Mar 26 2009) UN Doc A/HRC/RES/10/13; UN Human Rights Council Res 7/10, ‘Human rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality’ (Mar 26 2009) UN Doc A/HRC/RES/7/10; UN Commission on Human Rights Res 1998/48 (17 April 1998) UN Doc E/CN.4/RES/1998/48; UN Commission on Human Rights Res 1999/28 (26 April 1999) UN Doc E/CN.4/RES/1999/28; UN Commission on Human Rights, ‘CCPR General Comment No. 17: Article 24 (Rights of the Child)’ (7 April 1989) paras 7–8; UN Commission on Human Rights Res 2005/45 (19 April 2005) UN Doc E/CN.4/ RES/2005/45. See CERD, art 5(d)(iii). See CEDAW at art 9; CEDAW, ‘CEDAW General Recommendation No. 21: Equality in Marriage and Family Relations’ (1994) art 9.