indications that a child (or their parents) may be stateless arise in migration or international protection procedures, a referral should be made at an appropriate point in proceedings to a procedure to determine their statelessness. The child and/or their legal representative or guardian should be provided with information and quality legal assistance throughout relevant procedures. 22. Principles of non-discrimination (including with regard to the residence status of the child or the parents), shared burden of proof and child-sensitive procedures should be implemented, including through the provision of quality legal assistance, as well as a legal representative or guardian for unaccompanied children. Making sure that children who are affected can share their views in procedures and decision making is important with a view to ensuring decisions are made in the best interests of the child and in line with international law establishing the child’s right to be heard. The relevant safeguards for ensuring effective child participation should be followed in any procedure including those pertaining to determination of nationality. Identified promising practice Belgian nationality is granted to children born in Belgium who would otherwise have no nationality. A legislative amendment in 2022 brought a number of improvements to the Belgian nationality code in order to bring procedures into line with children’s rights. In particular, the term “stateless person” has been replaced by the words “has no other nationality”. The previous wording seemed to suggest that the person concerned or his or her parents had to obtain statelessness status before nationality could be granted, which was contrary to the intention of the legal provision, as the statelessness determination procedure can be cumbersome. 2. Particular case of unaccompanied children i. The procedure to determine an unaccompanied child’s age when he or she does not have identity documents 23. Age assessment is a procedure to be used when there is reasonable doubt as to the age of an unaccompanied child. Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)22 on human rights principles and guidelines on age assessment in the context of migration20 provides guidance and emphasises that age assessment procedures should respect the dignity and best interests of the child. It also underlines 20. Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)22 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on human rights principles and guidelines on age assessment in the context of migration. Page 14 ►Access to nationality for stateless children