to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality. As a State party to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, Ireland has further obligations to prevent and reduce statelessness.32 Obligations deriving from the 1961 Convention require Ireland to grant nationality to children who would otherwise be stateless and must be interpreted in light of the CRC.33 This includes the underlying principles of non-discrimination (Article 2 of the CRC), and that all actions concerning children, including in the area of nationality, must be undertaken with the best interests of the child as a primary consideration (Article 3). Risk of statelessness for children born on the territory 37. The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 (the “Citizenship Act”) governs the acquisition of nationality in Ireland.34 Under Section 6(3), a person born in Ireland is an Irish national from birth if they are ‘not entitled to citizenship of any other country’.35 However, there is no published guidance on how this provision should be implemented. The wording of the law leaves a gap for children who may be entitled but cannot acquire the nationality of one of their parents (for example, if parents are refugees and cannot meet a requirement to register with consular authorities as such contact may expose them to a risk of persecution or serious harm and even lead to the cancellation of their protection status). If the child’s mother is unable to pass on her nationality to her children – due to gender discriminatory nationality laws of her own country of nationality – and the father is unknown, uncontactable, or unable to transmit his nationality, the child may also be unable to evidence that they are not entitled to citizenship of any other country.36 This can also arise where the parents’ nationality is unknown or undetermined. The safeguard under Section 6(3) of the Citizenship Act creates a high evidentiary burden, difficult to comply with in practice, that may place children at risk of statelessness and prevent them from realising their right to a nationality. 38. It is not clear whether the provision in Section 6(3) of the Citizenship Act is automatic as there is no published guidance relating to the statutory provisions. As any person who claims to be Irish may apply for a certificate of nationality to the Minister for Justice, an application for such a certificate can be made on behalf of a child. At least one case has been reported of a stateless child born in Ireland who was issued a certificate of 32 1961 Convention; UNHCR, Guidelines on Statelessness No. 4: Ensuring Every Child's Right to Acquire a Nationality through Articles 1-4 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 21 December 2012, HCR/GS/12/04: https://www.refworld.org/docid/50d460c72.html; European Network on Statelessness, No Child Should Be Stateless, 2015: https://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/ENS_NoChildStateless_final.pdf; Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, World’s Stateless Report: Children, 2017: https://files.institutesi.org/worldsstateless17.pdf. 33 UNHCR, Guidelines on Statelessness No. 4: Ensuring Every Child’s Right to Acquire a Nationality through Articles 1-4 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 21 December 2012, HCR/GS/12/04: https://www.refworld.org/docid/50d460c72.html 34 Consolidated version of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956 (as amended):http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Irish%20Nationality%20and%20Citizenship%20Act%201956%20%202011%20informal%20consolidation.pdf/Files/Irish%20Nationality%20and%20Citizenship%20Act%201956%20%202011%20informal%20consolidation.pdf 35 Section 6(3) of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956 (as inserted by section 3 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 2001) which provides that “A person born in the island of Ireland is an Irish citizen from birth if he or she is not entitled to citizenship of any other country.” 36 UNHCR, UNICEF & Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights, Gender Discrimination and Childhood Statelessness, 2019: https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/wp-content/uploads/Gender-discrimination-childhood-statelessness-web.pdf; UNHCR, Background Note on Gender Equality, Nationality Laws and Statelessness 2020, 2020: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5f0d7b934.html. Countries that discriminate against mothers in their ability to confer nationality on their children include The Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Brunei, Burundi, Eswatini, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kiribati, Kuwait, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Nepal, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Togo, United Arab Emirates. For further information see also the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights: https://equalnationalityrights.org/the-issue/the-problem. 9