Childhood Statelessness i European Courts: An Avoidable Crisis 9 pean Convention on Nationality, the 2006 Council of Europe Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in Relation to State Succession, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Protection against statelessness also falls under the ICCPR (art 24)53 and the ECHR (art. 8).54 The ICCPR and the CRC – again, to which all European states are parties – explicitly protect the right to nationality and mandate immediate birth registration, in addition to obliging states to prevent any circumstances in which a child would become stateless.55 With respect to the 1961 Convention to which most European Council Member States are a party, the first four articles exist specifically to prevent childhood statelessness. States who are parties to both the CRC (all European Council Member States) and the 1961 Convention must interpret these articles “in light of the provisions of the CRC.”56 Thus, children’s best interests (Article 3) and the right to acquire a nationality (Article 7) should be taken into consideration in conjunction with the 1961 Convention and manifest in domestic laws. To complicate matters, however, how states implement the CRC and other international obligations varies greatly. For example, “[i]n some states such as Norway, incorporated treaties take precedence over national laws; in others, such as Germany, the CRC is subordinate to the Constitution and may be altered by subsequent federal law.”57 Litigation strategy depends upon these complexities of implementation. Childhood statelessness differs from other refugee or migration hardships because it is “thoroughly preventable” through birth registration and state law prevention.58 Indeed, CRC Article 7 mandates immediate birth registration and advances the right to “acquire a nationality” in addition to requiring states “ensure the implementation of these rights…in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless.” Nevertheless, UNHCR once reported “that a stateless child is born somewhere in the world every 10 minutes.”59 Pursuant to the CRC and other above-mentioned treaties, states should implement the requisite legal safeguards to comply with their obligations. Despite this expectation and perceived acceptance by Europe that every child deserves the right to nationality, state action often falls short of genuine conformity with international law.60 Violations may result from a birth state refusing to bestow nationality, failure to identify and protect stateless children, failure to provide adequate safeguards, discrimination resulting in statelessness, or an arbitrary deprivation of nationality.61 2.3 Unanswered Questions Stateless children are at the mercy of states and multiple decisionmakers involved in litigation pertaining to violations of their rights. Growing attention is being given to child rights litigation strategies, but the “broader literature is silent” regarding if these choices made are actually “disempower[ing]” children.62 Although the psychological journey of the child through litigation is outside the scope of this research, it is important to underscore the negative impact “on a child’s sense of personal identity, and children may be denied entitlements to basic health, education and social welfare.”63 Further, these stateless children 53 See also Communication No. 2498/201 CCPR/C/125/D/2498/2014 (HRC, 24 May 2019). 54 See, e.g., Hoti v. Croatia App no 63311/14 (ECtHR, 26 April 2018); Ramadan v. Malta App no 76136/12 (ECtHR, 21 June 2016). 55 CRC (n 40) art 7; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (adopted 19 December 1966, entered into force 23 March 1976) 999 UNTS 171 (ICCPR), art 24(2). 56 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), para 9 <www.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/legacy-pdf/5465c9ff9.pdf> accessed 17 March 2025. 57 Donger (n 12) 275. 58 European Network on Statelessness (ENS), ‘Preventing Childhood Statelessness in Europe: Issues, Gaps and Good Practices’ (April 2014), 3 <https://www.refworld.org/reference/regionalreport/ens/2014/en/103556> accessed 11 March 2025. 59 UNHCR, ‘I am here, I belong’ (November 2015), 1 <www.unhcr.org/ibelong/wp-content/uploads/EN_2015_IBELONGReport_ePub17. pdf> accessed 20 January 2025; European Network on Statelessness (ENS). (2024) ENS joins 22 child rights organisations calling on European election candidates to champion children’s rights and #VoteforChildren (27 March 2024), para 3 <https://www.statelessness.eu/updates/news/ ens-joins-22-child-rights-organisations-calling-european-election-candidates-champion> accessed 11 March 2025. 60 ENS (n 19), Vol I, 29; ENS (n 58), 12. 61 204. William Thomas Worster, ‘The Obligation to Grant Nationality to Stateless Children Under Treaty Law’ (2019) 24 Tilburg Law Review 62 Donger (n 12) 285. 63 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC Committee), ‘General comment No. 7 (2005): Implementing child rights in early child-