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to the conditions which may be used by a state for not providing an
automatic attribution of its nationality to stateless children born on its
territory but offers the possibility to acquire the nationality at a later
moment, has been endorsed by the United Nations Human Rights
Committee in its decision on the interpretation of Article 24 (3) of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in the case Denny
Zhao v. The Netherlands (2020).105
In respect of birth registration, the judgment of the ECtHR in G.T.B. v.
Spain makes it necessary that states be flexible when applying rules
on birth registration, and special attention needs to be given to the
registration of children born abroad.106
96. These developments raise the question of whether to revisit the existing standards of the Council of Europe as contained in earlier instruments
and, if so, whether the Council of Europe should embark on the revision of
Recommendation CM/Rec (2009)13 of the Committee of Ministers or on the
preparation of another type of instrument containing updated principles on
issues such as statelessness determination procedures, and training of stakeholders in the field of statelessness and nationality, which could take the form
of guidelines or practical tools.
97. Revisiting the positions taken by the Council of Europe in earlier instruments and, in particular Recommendation CM/Rec (2009)13, would build on
the answers provided by member states to the questionnaire sent out in June
2024; relevant case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the UN
Human Rights Committee; analyses on statelessness related issues in member
states by a number of stakeholders, in particular institutional partners such as
UNHCR and the European Migration Network (EMN), and civil society partners
such as the European Network on Statelessness (ENS) and the Global Citizen
Observatory (Globalcit); as well as the increasing number of comparative
studies published by academics on statelessness related issues.
B. Different options for a new instrument
98. In line with the terms of reference of the CDCJ, the most appropriate legally
non-binding instrument to address the situation of stateless children’s access
to nationality should be examined. There are different avenues to consider to
inform any decision on the most effective way forward.
105. See Views adopted by the Committee under article 5 (4) of the Optional Protocol, concerning
communication CCPR/C/130/D/2918/2016.
106. G.T.B. v. Spain, No. 3041/19, § 129, 16 November 2023.
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