Statelessness Working Paper Series No. 2017/08 guarantees the right to a nationality. It then calls on member States to establish statelessness determination procedures in line with the guidelines of UNHCR, and avoid refusing to recognise a person as stateless when his or her situation meets the definition of a stateless person as set out in Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention, “in particular through the introduction of ‘alternative’ definitions of statelessness at the national level.”76 Then, in March 2016, the Parliamentary Assembly adopted Resolution 2099 (2016) on the need to eradicate statelessness of children, which calls for States to introduce (or upgrade) statelessness determination procedures. It encourages States to do so in accordance with the guidelines of UNHCR to ensure that all stateless persons in their territories can be identified, protected and may ultimately acquire nationality through facilitated naturalisation.77 There are two ways in which the Council of Europe could adopt legally binding instruments for harmonised statelessness determination procedures. The ECHR and its Optional Protocols are directly enforceable before the ECtHR. There are 13 Optional Protocols attached to the ECHR, extending its scope. The right to a nationality could be a plausible candidate for an Optional Protocol. However, the low number of signatures and ratifications of nationality-related conventions signal that probably there would be even less enthusiasm among States to accede to an Optional Protocol pronouncing the right to a nationality that is enforceable before the ECtHR. Another avenue could be the adoption of a revised ECN that would, this time, include the obligation to establish statelessness determination procedures on the national level. The design of the procedure could be left to States Parties. However, the revised Convention would have to be opened for signatures again, starting from the beginning. Along the lines of legal considerations, a CoE convention on the protection of stateless persons would be the most favourable. For most decisions, the CoE Statute requires a two-thirds majority of the representatives casting a vote and a majority of the representatives entitled to sit on the Committee of Ministers.78 Adopting a CoE convention does not automatically generate an obligation for the member States to accede to it. The convention could contain the obligation to adopt a statelessness determination procedure (for those States that have not yet done so). Adequately, it could contain the most important minimum standards for the procedure, i.e. that the procedure should be formalised in law, it is accessible for everyone, the judicial review of the decision is available, etc.79 An added benefit would be that CoE conventions are open for signature by non-members, too. It would be a great opportunity for non-members of the CoE to improve their foreign policy message. However, the overall low accession rate to previous conventions on nationality and the current political climate indicate that this might not (yet) be the moment for the members of the CoE to create such legally binding obligations for themselves. Of course, adopting such a convention can be a long-term goal, but in order to raise awareness of the issue and to attract as many future accessions as possible, it is useful to turn to soft law. As mentioned before, the need to establish statelessness determination procedures has already appeared in some soft law instruments of the Council of Europe. Soft law instruments are not legally binding, but legally relevant. They can contribute to the consolidation of customary law and may serve as initiatives for national legislators to establish harmonised statelessness determination procedures that comply with the international standards. There are two organs of the CoE that have in their scope the adoption of soft law documents, and three soft law tools that may be suitable for serving as an incentive for establishing harmonised SDPs. 76 Ibid. Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 2099 (2016) on the need to eradicate statelessness of children (4 March 2016) 78 Jörg Polakewicz, ‘Council of Europe (CoE)’, in Rüdiger Wolfrum (ed.), The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2014. 79 UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons (30 June 2014), available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/53b676aa4.html [accessed 27 March 2017] 77 14