The 1997 European Convention on Nationality, another regional instrument drafted by the Council of Europe, was born out of the perceived need to create a single text that consolidated all the developments in domestic and international law regarding nationality since the 1930 Hague Convention addressed the issue of conflicts of nationality laws. The Convention neither modifies the 1963 Convention nor is it incompatible with that earlier Convention. Indeed, the 1997 Convention on Nationality allows for the acquisition of multiple nationalities for married persons of different nationalities and their children. But the Convention also covers questions of the acquisition, retention, loss, and recovery of nationality, procedural rights, nationality in the context of State succession, military obligations, and cooperation among States Parties. It also contains many provisions that aim to prevent the creation of statelessness. The Convention refers to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons for its definition of a stateless person: that is, only de jure stateless persons are covered by the provisions of the European Convention on Nationality. Europe’s recent experience with state succession led to a recognition that large numbers of people risk becoming stateless because they may lose their nationality before acquiring another. In an effort to avoid statelessness through state succession – which may occur as a result of a transfer of territory from one State to another, unification of States, dissolution of a State, or separation of part or parts of a territory – European States drafted a Protocol to the European Convention on Nationality that focuses specifically on this problem. Elaborating on the Convention’s general principles on nationality, the Draft Protocol on the Avoidance of Statelessness in relation to State Succession contains specific rules on nationality in cases of State succession. Its 21 Articles provide practical guidance on such issues as the responsibilities of the successor and predecessor states, rules of proof, avoiding statelessness at birth, and facilitating the acquisition of nationality by stateless persons. The Protocol is expected to be adopted in early 2006. In 1999, the Organization of African Unity (now the African Union) adopted the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Modeled on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Charter shares some key principles with that earlier treaty, including non-discrimination and the primary consideration of the best interests of the child. Article 6 of the Charter, which focuses on name and nationality, asserts that: • Every child shall have the right from his birth to a name; • Every child shall be registered immediately after birth; • Every child has the right to acquire a nationality; • States Parties to the Charter shall undertake to ensure that their Constitutional legislation recognizes the principles according to which a child shall acquire the nationality of the State in the territory in which he was born if, at the time of the child’s birth, he is not granted nationality by any other State in accordance with its laws. 16