Making Their Days Count that may be required under art 1(2)(b) of the 1961 Convention.13 So this is an important issue even for us as the Committee on the Rights of the Child that we need to continue to emphasise. Clearly, when children are designated as having ‘undetermined nationality’, they should have access to all social services on equal terms with citizen children. It is an absolutely critical issue that needs to be complied with because the right to an adequate standard of living would also depend on this. Let me now progress to highlighting what we have done in the last 28 years in terms of the jurisprudence that we have provided as the Committee on the Rights of the Child. We have emphasised the need to ratify both the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention.14 As a Committee, we have serious concerns about some of the reservations that have been entered into in relation to arts 7 and 22 of the CRC and art 9 of the CEDAW but also a number of reservations that have been lodged in relation to the 1961 Convention.15 The prevention of statelessness among children born on the territory has drawn the attention of the Committee on many occasions. In this respect, questions have been raised as to whether the Committee prescribes universal jus soli. The answer is ‘no we don’t!’ We are aware that that the drafters of the ICCPR said that a state could not accept an unqualified obligation to give its nationality to every child born on its territory, regardless of the circumstances. But when the child would otherwise be stateless, as a Committee, we try to push the boundaries in our conversations with states so that such a child would not be left stateless. Of course, one of the keys to an effective implementation of the right to acquire nationality is that a child is registered immediately after birth. In fact, the issue about birth registration is pretty much our ‘bread and butter’. You have to be counted in order to count, and, as a result, children have to be registered immediately after birth. The 1961 Convention does not require birth registration for the operation of its provisions. But birth registration is a critical element that could help with the acquisition, as well as proof, of nationality. It could help with establishing facts about birth, such as the identity of parents and place and time of birth. We have reviewed many countries that have unnecessarily cumbersome procedures for birth registration or those that make it cumbersome because they argue that since birth registration is proof of nationality, non-nationals cannot have their births registered. The Committee does not hold the position that birth registration is proof of nationality. But it is an important element of establishing nationality. In fact, the importance of birth registration in every jurisdiction is one of the reasons why we have it within the Sustainable Development Goals. Measures should be taken to facilitate and/or expedite procedures for birth registrations that could, among other things, assist with the acquisition of nationality. I have already emphasised the point that children often do not have time and one year in the life of a child is 6% of his or her childhood. Deprivation and loss of nationality is a topic with which we have continued to engage, including in the context of the war on terror and a whole range of other contexts. Here, art 8 of the CRC explicitly addresses the right to preserve a child’s identity and we try to emphasise the point about the importance of this provision 13 14 15 ibid arts 1, 1(2)(b), 4. Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, opened for signature 28 September 1954, 360 UNTS 117 (entered into force 6 June 1960); 1961 Convention (n 4). CRC (n 1) arts 7, 22; CEDAW (n 2) art 9. 201