Spanish Court Recognises Spanish Nationality of Stateless Child the obstacles in order to seek recognition of the child's Cameroonian nationality’ and the child’s first official known place of stay was Spain.25 The Court concluded that recognising the child as a Spanish national was the only mechanism that allowed for compliance with the legal provisions contained in the international treaties to which Spain is a party, respecting and effectively complying with the best interests of the child.26 The Court explained that the child could not remain stateless and experience discrimination in comparison with other children, as this constituted a violation of her basic and fundamental rights. Indeed, it was proven that the statelessness situation of the child jeopardised her fundamental right to access education and public health services.27 The Court declared that the child held Spanish nationality ‘by birth’ and that her Spanish nationality and birth must be registered by the Spanish authorities.28 V CONCLUSION These ground-breaking Spanish judgments are important as they raise awareness about the reality of the ‘invisible children’, how they become stateless due to the particular circumstances of their births during their mothers’ migratory journeys, and the consequent breaches of their fundamental and basic rights. This case shows the importance of authorities correctly identifying these situations when they encounter them. Identification is crucial for effectively protecting the human rights of these children and eradicating this category of statelessness. It is also essential that public authorities and legislators provide general regulations, measures and solutions to avoid these cases of statelessness. The facts of this case are not unique, although the rulings are unprecedented. There are several other cases of ‘invisible children’ that have been identified in Spain and other European countries.29 It is reasonable to expect that more ‘invisible children’ exist worldwide in connection with the migration of pregnant women and women accompanied by newborn babies. 25 See Audienca Provincial de Guipúzcoa Judgment (n 1) 5, where the Court stated: [t]aking into account the circumstances of this case, in which we consider that a genuine effort has been made by the plaintiff to remove the obstacles to trying to recognize the minor’s Cameroonian nationality, we believe that an extensive application of art. 17.1 c CC, such as the one that has been carried out by the first instance court, recognizing the minor's Spanish nationality of origin, constitutes the only mechanism that allows the compliance with the legal provisions contained in the international treaties to which Spain is a party, respecting and fulfilling effectively the best interests of the minor enshrined in national provisions, since allowing the minor to remain in the limbo of statelessness, in a situation of inequality with respect to other minors, with a significant reduction in their basic and fundamental rights (such as, among others, the right to education — art 27 of the Constitution — with the present consequences that this entails for her and that have been proven, supposes disregarding said interest to her detriment. 26 27 28 29 ibid. ibid. ibid. For example, in 2021, the case of a woman from Cameroon who gave birth in Algeria and months later moved to Spain, was brought before the Spanish Civil Registry in the municipality of Montilla (Cordoba). The child’s birth had not been registered in Algeria. Even though the birth had not occurred in Spain, the judge in charge of the Civil Registry issued an innovative resolution dated 15 October 2021 by which the child’s birth was registered, in order to protect her right to a legal identity and her fundamental rights. Other similar cases have been identified in Spain and France by the Ödos program. 321