European States’ Obligations to Repatriate the Children Detained in Camps in Northeast Syria parentage214 or based on the child being born inside or outside of marriage.215 Most importantly, if a child would be otherwise stateless,216 States have an obligation to grant the nationality of the parent to the child “as soon as possible,”217 including in situations in which the child is born abroad.218 Only a limited number of European States which follow the jus sanguinis tradition accept that a child who was born abroad to a national parent can automatically acquire nationality, i.e. by operation of law without any formal act of the executive being required, under the terms outlined in the State’s legislation on nationality. 219 Legally speaking, when nationality is acquired automatically at birth, birth registration becomes a procedural matter, tied to documentation of identity—but not a condition to acquisition of nationality, as that is automatic (although it should be noted that the process might not be that simple in practice). In many European States, however, a child who was born abroad to a national parent can acquire nationality only subsequent to birth, usually through a decision made by the relevant authorities and under certain conditions. In this regard, some European States place restrictions on the conferral of nationality by parents for specific categories of children born abroad, 220 while in other European 214 CEDAW, Article 9(2); 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, Article 1(3). HRComm, “General Comment No. 28: Article 3 (The Equality of Rights Between Men and Women)”, CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.10, 29 March 2000, para. 25; ECtHR, “Genovese v. Malta,” Application No. 53124/09, 11 January 2012), para. 42-45. 215 HRComm, “General Comment No. 17: Article 24 (Rights of the Child)”, 7 April 1989, para. 8. See also: UNHCR, “Guidelines on Statelessness No. 5: Loss and Deprivation of Nationality under Articles 5-9 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness”, HCR/GS/20/05, May 2020, paras. 19-21. 216 For more information about the concept of “otherwise stateless” see: UNHCR, “Expert Meeting Interpreting the 1961 Statelessness Convention and Preventing Statelessness among Children Summary Conclusions”, para. 12. 217 Human Rights Council, “Report of the Secretary-General on Human Rights and Arbitrary Deprivation of Nationality”, A/HRC/25/28, 19 December 2013, para. 43. 218 CRC, Article 2(2); CEDAW, Article 9(2); 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, Article 4 (1-2). Human Rights Council, “Resolution on the Right to a Nationality: Women and Children”, A/HRC/RES/20/4, 16 July 2012; ECtHR, “Genovese v. Malta,” Application No. 53124/09, 11 January 2012, para. 42-45; in which ECtHR, for the first time clearly ruled that access to nationality falls under the scope of protection of the ECHR as part of a person’s social identity, which in turn is part of that person’s private life (ECHR, Article 8). See also: Gerard-René de Groot and Olivier Vonk, “Acquisition of Nationality by Birth on a Particular Territory or Establishment of Parentage: Global Trends Regarding Ius Sanguinis and Ius Soli.” Netherlands International Law Review 65, 2018, p. 323. 219 These countries include Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine. See GLOBALCIT, “Global Database on Modes of Acquisition of Citizenship”, version 1.0. San Domenico di Fiesole: Global Citizenship Observatory / Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies / European University Institute, 2017; Human Rights Council, “Report of the Secretary-General on Human Rights and Arbitrary Deprivation of Nationality”, A/HRC/25/28, 19 December 2013, para. 29. 220 Gerard-René de Groot and Maarten Peter Vink, “The Relationship Between Citizenship and Residence in the Citizenship Laws of the Member States of the European Union”, CARIM-India Research Report 2013/25, European University Institute, 2013, p. 7; Costica Dumbrava, “Nationality, Citizenship and 40