status. Following the adoption of the new law, in 2008, Finland acceded to the 1961 Convention and the 1997 European Convention on Nationality. Like the 1968 law, the 2003 Act provides for children born stateless in Finland to acquire Finnish nationality automatically. In addition to provisions based on descent,41 a child acquires Finnish citizenship by birth under section 9(1)(3) of the Act if “the child is born in Finland and does not acquire the citizenship of a foreign State at birth, and does not even have a secondary right to acquire the citizenship of any other foreign State.” The existence of this secondary right depends on the legislation of the parents’ State of citizenship: if citizenship is only granted on application and the deciding authority has discretionary power, the child does not have the right but only the possibility of acquiring his or her parents’ citizenship.42 In addition, under section 9(2) of the 2003 Act, children born in Finland acquire citizenship automatically if the parents have refugee status in Finland or have otherwise been provided protection from the authorities of their State of nationality, and acquisition of the parents’ citizenship depends on registration of the child’s birth or another procedure by the authority of the parent’s State of nationality. Section 12 of the 2003 Act provides for automatic grant of nationality to foundlings and children born in Finland to parents of unknown nationality. These children are considered Finnish citizens as long as they have not been recognized as citizens of a foreign State. If foreign citizenship is established after the child has reached the age of five, Finnish citizenship is retained. The government agency responsible for citizenship matters is the Finnish Immigration Service, known as Migri. Section 36 of the 2003 Act provides for Migri to determine citizenship status at the request of a public authority or an individual. In addition, “[e]fforts shall be made to determine the citizenship status of a person with unknown citizenship if his or her municipality of residence is in Finland.” The explanatory memorandum provided when the 2003 Act was first proposed states that the purpose of the provision is to clarify citizenship status in situations where it is unclear, and to improve the consistency of information regarding nationality in different registries maintained by the authorities. Section 41 of the Act provides for decisions made by Migri to be appealed to an Administrative Court. Section 1 of the Nationality Decree43 providing for implementation of the 2003 Act requires local registry offices to request Migri to determine the citizenship status of a child born in Finland in cases where 1) the child is born out of wedlock and the mother is not a Finnish national; 2) the child’s parents are married and are neither Finnish nationals nor holders of another nationality in common; and 3) the parents of the child are married and are both nationals of another country but the child does not automatically acquire the parents’ nationality under the other country’s law. Local registry offices must also request a determination of citizenship status for foundlings and children whose parents’ nationality is unknown. About 1,000 applications are made for such children each year.44 Guidelines issued by Migri state that when a decision on removal from the country is being made with regard to a family that includes a child born in Finland, it is necessary to check whether the child has acquired Finnish nationality. Removal from the country cannot be implemented before the citizenship status of the child has been determined and it has been confirmed that the child has not acquired Finnish nationality at birth.45 The Supreme Administrative Court has heard a number of cases that relate to the prevention of statelessness among children born in Finland and the determination of citizenship status. A case heard in September 2011 dealt with the question of a secondary right to nationality and the extent of a parent’s responsibility to enable 41 The provisions on descent generally provide for gender equality, but create distinctions based on birth in or out of wedlock: Finnish nationality is always automatically acquired at birth from a Finnish mother; it is also automatically acquired at birth from a Finnish father if the father is married to the (non-Finnish) mother of the child or if the child is born in Finland (to a non-Finnish mother) and paternity is established. 42 Government Bill 235/2012. See note 37, EUDO Report, page 17. 43 The current version of the Nationality Decree entered into force in May 2013, and provided further detail on the steps to be fulfilled by the local registry offices. 44 See note 37, Mapping Statelessness in Finland, page 32. 45 Ibid., page 38. 11 CAMPAIGN TO END STATELESSNESS WITHIN 10 YE ARS