© European Network on Statelessness. All Rights Reserved. This report and sections thereof may be distributed and reproduced without formal permission for the purposes of non-commercial research, private study, news reporting and training, provided that the material is appropriately attributed to the authors and the copyright-holder. This is a publication of the European Network on Statelessness (ENS), a civil society alliance with 52 member organisations in over 30 countries, committed to addressing statelessness in Europe. ENS believes that all human beings have the right to a nationality and advocates for the avoidance and reduction of statelessness. ENS firmly supports the call by UNHCR for the eradication of statelessness within the next decade and is convinced that progress can only be achieved if measures are put in place to prevent statelessness among children. This report is therefore intended to contribute to efforts towards the prevention of childhood statelessness in Europe by providing an insight into some of the main issues, gaps and good practices. This guide was written by Stefanie Jansen and Laura van Waas of the Tilburg University Statelessness Programme (the latter also a member of the ENS Steering Committee). Detailed comments and input on the content and design of the report were provided by the ENS Steering Committee: Chris Nash (Asylum Aid), Ivanka Kostic (Praxis Serbia), Gábor Gyulai (Hungarian Helsinki Committee), Amal de Chickera (The Equal Rights Trust) and Maxim Ferschtman (Open Society Justice Initiative). ENS is very grateful for the additional information, comments and support provided by Inge Sturkenboom (UNHCR Bureau for Europe), Alison Harvey (Immigration Law Practitioners Association) Davor Rako (UNHCR Serbia), Laura Bosch (Defence for Children), Maureen Lynch (International Observatory on Statelessness and Statelessness.info), Erika Kalantzi (legal practitioner in Greece), Dalibor Josovic (Legal Center Montenegro), Olivier Vonk (EUDO Observatory on Citizenship) and Katarína Fajnorová (The Human Rights League). ENS would also like to thank Jason Tucker for proof-reading the report. 2 ENS wishes to acknowledge the generous support of the Oak Foundation which made this publication possible. Table of contents: 1. INTRODUCTION 2. CHILDREN’S RIGHT TO A NATIONALITY 3. GRANTING NATIONALITY TO OTHERWISE STATELESS CHILDREN 3.1 THE ISSUE 3.2 BIRTH ON A STATE’S TERRITORY 3.2.1 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS 3.2.2 GOOD PRACTICES 3.2.3 ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT 3.3 BIRTH OUTSIDE A STATE’S TERRITORY 3.3.1 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS 3.3.2 GOOD PRACTICES 3.3.3 ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT 4. FOUNDLINGS 4.1 THE ISSUE 4.2 INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS 4.3 GOOD PRACTICES 4.4 ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT 6. DISCRIMINATION 6.1 THE ISSUE 6.2 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS 6.3 GOOD PRACTICES 6.4 ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT 7. ADOPTION AND SURROGACY 7.1 THE ISSUE 7.2 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS 7.3 GOOD PRACTICES 7.4 ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT 8. LOSS AND DEPRIVATION OF NATIONALITY 8.1 THE ISSUE 8.2 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS 8.3 GOOD PRACTICES 8.4 ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT 9. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5. BIRTH REGISTRATION 5.1 THE ISSUE 5.2 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS 5.3 GOOD PRACTICES 5.4 ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT 1