8 • International Journal of Refugee Law, 2026, Vol. 00, Issue 00 ibid art 1(1) (either at birth [a] or upon application [b]) (emphasis added). These are five years immediately preceding the application, or ten years overall: 1961 Convention, art 1(2)(b). 66 CRC (n 59). 67 Indeed, a more straightforward formulation of Article 7 – ‘The child shall be entitled from his birth to…a nationality’ – was declared to be ‘doomed to failure’: Comments from the Federal Republic of Germany on the first Polish draft (1978): ‘Legislative History of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Part 1)’ UN Doc HR/PUB/07/1 (1 July 2007) 370. 68 Comments from the United States of America: Discussion and adoption by the Working Group (1980): ibid 372. 69 See, eg comments from Malawi on the first Polish draft (1978): ibid 371. 70 Comments by Bangladesh submitted to the Working Group (1986): ibid 375. 71 Wouter Vandenhole, Gamze Erdem Türkelli and Sara Lembrechts, ‘Article 7: Name and Nationality’ Children’s Rights: A Commentary on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Protocols (2nd edn, Edward Elgar Publishing 2024) 117. 72 Committee on the Rights of the Child, ‘Views Adopted by the Committee under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure, Concerning Communication No. 95/2019’ UN Doc CRC/C/88/D/95/2019 (3 November 2021, adopted 22 September 2021,) AM v Switzerland [10.10]. 73 ibid (finding that Switzerland has violated this obligation). 64 65 Downloaded from academic.oup.com/ijrl/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ijrl/eeag028/8767365 by guest on 08 October 2026 its nationality to a person born in its territory who would otherwise be stateless.64 While paragraph 2 does allow States to affix certain conditions upon the grant of nationality, a requirement of habitual residence in the territory cannot exceed stated limits.65 This provision is clear that it is its own nationality that States are obligated to provide. Consistent with a low overall rate of ratification, the UAE is not a State Party to the 1961 Convention. However, the UAE is a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 (CRC),66 which provides in article 7(1) for the right of a child to acquire a nationality, with the second paragraph of the article adding ‘in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless’. Unlike the 1961 Convention, the CRC provides for the right of children to acquire a nationality. This vague formulation was settled upon due to States’ reluctance to commit to a broad-based obligation to grant nationality on jus soli grounds.67 States were also concerned to avoid the implication that a stateless child who entered the territory of a State Party would be entitled to the nationality of that State.68 More generally, during the drafting of this article, States expressed the view that nationality was a matter of domestic law69 and that too broad a formulation of this article would lead to ‘far-reaching legal reservations by a large number of states’.70 Indeed, the UAE has entered a reservation to article 7, explaining that the country ‘is of the view that the acquisition of nationality is an internal matter and one that is regulated and whose terms and conditions are established by national legislation’. Irrespective of this reservation, the UAE could argue that the supply of foreign passports to stateless bidun children who were born in its territory fulfilled its obligation under the broadly worded article 7. However, the latitude conveyed by article 7 is not completely without limits.71 The Committee on the Rights of the Child has specified that ‘States are required to take proactive steps to ensure the right to a nationality [under article 7] can be exercised’.72 In the case of AM v Switzerland, the Committee ruled that Switzerland was required to take ‘all necessary steps’ to determine whether a stateless child facing a risk of deportation would have access to a nationality in the country to which they were returned.73 While