IV. International legal framework and OSCE commitments relating to the prevention of statelessness by, among other means, requiring that nationality be granted to children born in the territory of a State if they would otherwise be stateless. The most detailed standards have been adopted in Europe. Specifically, the 1997 European Convention on Nationality, adopted by the Council of Europe, regulates the acquisition (Article 6) and loss of nationality (Articles 7 and 8) and includes, inter alia, a range of safeguards against statelessness, most of which mirror those of the 1961 Convention. Article 4 of the European Convention lays out the principles that govern each State Party’s rules on nationality: The rules on nationality of each State Party shall be based on the following principles: (a) everyone has the right to a nationality; (b) statelessness shall be avoided; (c) no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his or her nationality; (d) neither marriage nor the dissolution of marriage between a national of a State Party and an alien, nor the change of nationality by one of the spouses during marriage, shall automatically affect the nationality of the other spouse.42 Subsequently, the Council of Europe adopted the 2006 Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in Relation to State Succession, which contains the most detailed provisions of any international treaty on State obligations to prevent and reduce statelessness in the context of State succession.43 In addition, the 1969 American Convention on Human Rights provides every person with the right to a nationality, affirming that every person has the right to the nationality of the State on whose territory he or she was born if he or she does not have the right to any other nationality. The Convention also stipulates that no one should be arbitrarily deprived of his or her nationality or of the right to change it (Article 20).44 Members of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) adopted two conventions that are regularly used for the confirmation of nationality: firstly, the 1995 CIS Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms which lays down that everyone shall have the right to citizenship and that no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his or her citizenship or of the 34

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