years’ stable residence is considerably longer than the requirement of three years for stateless children born in the Netherlands with lawful residence. With the current text of the legislative proposal, the Dutch Government ignores the previous recommendation of the CRC from 2015 and falls short of the Netherlands’ international obligations, as it denies children their right to a nationality (Article 7 CRC).29 In addition, these limiting conditions do not take into consideration the best interests of the child, as set out in Article 3 CRC, given that the child’s nationality, social identity and legal status remain insecure for an extended period of time after birth.30 Moreover, the child’s legal and nationality status remain contingent on the choices or actions of their parents, violating Article 2 CRC.31 In contradiction with the explanatory memorandum migration control is no objective justification for unequal treatment of minors. Finally, not granting Dutch nationality also interferes with the child’s right to an identity and sense of belonging established in Article 8 CRC.32 Administrative gaps to identify stateless children, and the practice of registering children as having “unknown nationality” 17. Determining statelessness is an important first step in ensuring that stateless people, particularly stateless children, have access to their rights – including safeguards to protect the right to a nationality. The application of the principle of the best interests of the child (set out inter alia in Article 3 of the CRC) in connection with the child’s right to a nationality, 33 implies that a child must acquire a nationality at birth or as soon as possible after birth. Children must not be left stateless for an extended period, nor with their nationality status undetermined. 18. However, extensive bureaucratic obstacles prevent children from being recognised as stateless in the Netherlands, with the result of leaving them with their nationality undetermined for an extended period. As of January 2020, 7,323 children between 0-14 years-old were registered as ‘nationality unknown’, among which 5,556 children were born in the Netherlands. In addition, there were 5,659 persons registered as ‘nationality unknown’ aged between 15-24 years, among which 1,287 were born in the Netherlands.34 19. Under the Dutch Act on the Municipal Basic Administration, registration of all inhabitants takes place at municipality level, in the Basic Registration of Persons Database (BRP).35 The BRP also records people’s nationality. Where a person is found not to hold any nationality, the applicable municipality could reflect this by recording “stateless” in the nationality field. Being identified as stateless enables enjoyment of other rights, including the acquisition of Dutch nationality. However, due to the strict 29 Joint general comment No. 4 of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and No. 23 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on State obligations regarding the human rights of children in the context of international migration in countries of origin, transit, destination and return, 2017, https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a12942a2b.html, para 24. 30 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 3. 31 Ibid, Article 2. 32 Ibid., article 8. 33 Article 7 of the CRC, Article 24(3) of the ICCPR. See also UNCHR Guidelines on Statelessness No. 4: Ensuring Every Child’s Right to Acquire a Nationality through Articles 1-4 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 2012, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/50d460c72.html, para 22: where a child is found to be of ‘undetermined nationality’, States should establish whether they would otherwise be stateless as soon as possible and within a period not exceeding five years; Recommendation CM/Rec(2009)13, adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 9 December 2009, available at https://rm.coe.int/16807096bf: urges States to register a child as being of ‘unknown’ or ‘undetermined’ nationality only for as short a period as possible. 34 Statistics Netherlands (CBS), January 2020. 35 2014 Dutch Act on the Municipal Basic Administration, available at: https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0006723/2014-01-01. 6