Contents FOREWORD INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 – PREVENTING STATELESSNESS AMONG CHILDREN 5 6 7 1. The legal safeguards provided by nationality laws for children to acquire a nationality or to be given the nationality of the country where they are if they would otherwise be stateless 7 2. The guarantees of access to nationality for children in practice, including when the child’s statelessness is not formally established 8 3. A specific nationality determination procedure for a child born on the country’s territory if it is in doubt 9 4. The framework for co-operation with third countries in order to determine or confirm the child’s nationality 10 CHAPTER 2 – CHILD-FRIENDLY NATIONALITY AND STATELESSNESS DETERMINATION PROCEDURES: LEGAL AID, REPRESENTATION, ACCESS TO INFORMATION AND JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN 12 1. Stateless children or children at risk of statelessness 2. Particular case of unaccompanied children 12 14 CHAPTER 3 – BIRTH REGISTRATION 17 1. Immediate and free of charge birth registration, including of the children of refugees or migrants, even if the period within which the birth should have been declared has already expired 17 2. Flexibility in evidentiary and documentation requirements in birth registration processes 18 3. A procedure for registering the birth of a child in the absence of proof of the exact place, time or date of birth 19 4. The information of both parents recorded in the birth certificate in all cases 20 5. The possibility for birth registration competent authorities not to be concerned with the child’s residence status 21 CHAPTER 4 – AWARENESS-RAISING AND TRAINING OF RELEVANT ACTORS 22 1. The training and awareness-raising provided for migration officials, civil servants responsible for registering asylum seekers, refugees and migrants, civil registrars, guardians, judges on nationality and statelessness 22 2. The awareness-raising on the causes and consequences of statelessness provided for officials called upon to deal with statelessness 23 ► Page 3