2022 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 4(2) Statelessness30 nor the ECN, but it still has a duty to prevent and reduce childhood statelessness deriving from its obligations under art 7 of the CRC. Although this provision clearly sets out that children have the right to acquire a nationality— meaning that no child should ever remain stateless throughout their childhood—it does not establish who holds the corresponding responsibility for granting a nationality to the child, nor when and how this will take place. UNCRC is in a crucial position to clarify the scope of protection under art 7, and to also influence the interpretation of the child’s right to a nationality in other human rights instruments.31 State parties to the CRC have a responsibility towards all children in their jurisdiction to respect, protect and fulfil their right to a nationality, and to ensure that their best interests are taken into consideration in all actions or decisions concerning them. In fact, art 7(2) does not exclusively impose a responsibility on the state where the child was born, but also on all countries with which the child has a link by way of residence, parentage or place of birth. 32 States should put safeguards in place to prevent statelessness among children born on their territory, and are also ‘required to adopt every appropriate measure, both internally and in cooperation with other [s]tates, to ensure that every child has a nationality when he or she is born’.33 UNCRC has clarified that the principle of the best interests of the child is a threefold concept that acts as a substantive right, an interpretative legal principle and a rule of procedure.34 The joint interpretation of arts 3 and 7 of the CRC implies that a child should acquire a nationality at birth or as soon as possible after birth35 to ensure that the child does not remain stateless throughout childhood. This requires states to put in place non-discriminatory nationality laws with full safeguards to prevent and reduce statelessness among children who have a relevant link to that state, including children of refugees or children in migration. 30 31 32 33 34 35 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, opened for signature 30 August 1961, 989 UNTS 175 (entered into force 13 December 1975); Third Party Intervention (n 14) [34]. Including International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, opened for signature 16 December 1966, 999 UNTS 171 (entered into force 23 March 1976) art 24(3); International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, opened for signature 7 March 1966, 660 UNTS 1 (entered into force 4 January 1969) art 5(d)(iii); Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, opened for signature 18 December 1979, 1249 UNTS 1 (entered into force 3 September 1981) art 9; International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, opened for signature 18 December 1990, 2220 UNTS 3 (entered into force 1 July 2003) art 29 and Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, opened for signature 13 December 2006, 2515 UNTS 3 (entered into force 3 May 2008) art 18. Gerard-René DeGroot, ‘Children, their Right to Nationality and Child Statelessness’ in Alice Edwards and Laura van Waas (eds), Nationality and Statelessness under International Law (Cambridge University Press 2014) 144, 147. CMW and UNCRC, Joint General Comment No 4 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and No 23 (2017) 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, UN Doc CMW/C/GC/4-CRC/C/GC/23 (16 November 2017) 7 [23]. See also UN Human Rights Committee, CCPR General Comment No 17: Article 24 (Rights of the Child), 35th Sess, UN Doc HRI/GEN/1/Rev.1 (19 July 1994) 23 [8]. UNCRC, General Comment No 14 (2013) on the Right of the Child to Have His or Her Best Interests Taken as a Primary Consideration (art 3 para 1), UN Doc CRC /C/GC/14 (29 May 2013) 4 [6]. 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, UN Doc HCR/GS/12/04 (21 December 2012) 3 [11]. 298