9.7.4. It can never be in the best interest of a child to be made stateless or be deprived of nationality. CRC, Art. 3(1): “In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration. 9.7.5. States must take all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of the child's parents, legal guardians, or family members. ACERWC, Nubian Minors, para. 46: “ … being stateless as a child is generally the antithesis to the best interests of the child. 173. In addition to the right to a nationality that is generally provided under international and regional law, that right is also specifically tailored to children in a number of international and regional legal instruments, such as the CRC (Articles 7 and 8), ICCPR (Article 24(3)), ACRWC (Article 6(3)), and the Covenant on the Rights of the Child in Islam (Article 7(1)). Furthermore, the principle of the best interests of the child is protected under the CRC (Article 3(1)), CRPD (Article 7(2)), the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU (Article 24(2)), ACRWC (Article 4) and the Covenant on the Rights of the Child in Islam (Article 3(3)). 174. Every child, defined in Article 1 CRC as any person under the age of eighteen, has the right to acquire a nationality (Article 7(1) CRC) as well as to preserve this nationality. This latter right is clear from Article 8(1) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which provides that States are to “respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality . This article is complemented by Article to “provide appropriate assistance and protection, with a view to re-establishing speedily his or her identity in cases where “a child is illegally deprived of some or all of the elements of his or her identity .305 Whenever a child is deprived of nationality, a State thus risks violating the provisions of the CRC, as well as other international standards. 175. In particular, the four guiding principles of the CRC non-discrimination, best interests of the child, respect for the views of the child and the right to life, survival and development individual and cumulatively, can be adversely impacted by deprivation of nationality. Indeed, many children who are deprived of the nationality of a country they consider their own have to deal with discrimination from an early age.306 It has also been shown that children who are deprived of their nationality and/or stateless cannot access certain important rights, including health care and education, which has a negative impact on the development of the child.307 Furthermore, “in all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration .308 Considering the negative impact of deprivation of nationality on 305 Art. 8(2) CRC. UNHCR, ‘I Am Here, I Belong. The Urgent Need to End Childhood Statelessness‘ November https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/wp-content/uploads/2015-10-StatelessReport_ENG16.pdf. 307 UNHCR, ‘I Am Here, I Belong. The Urgent Need to End Childhood Statelessness‘ November 308 Art. 3(1) CRC. 306 84 , available at: .