Part II. European Law on Nationality and Statelessness application being lodged with the appropriate authority, by or on behalf of the child.670 This provision can be compared with Article 1 of the 1961 Convention. The ECN allows states to require lawful and habitual residence on its territory for a period not exceeding five years immediately preceding the lodging of the application.671 In its rules on the acquisition of nationality672, the ECN also makes provision for foundlings specifically: each state party shall ensure that its nationality is acquired ex lege by foundlings found in its territory who would otherwise be stateless.673 Similar provisions can be found in two older international legal instruments: Article 2 of the 1961 Convention and Article 14 of the 1930 Hague Convention. But who is the foundling who can benefit from this provision in the ECN? The ECN does not define the concept of a ‘foundling’ in its definitions of Article 2. However, the Explanatory Report to the ECN offers more information: ‘foundlings’ are new-born infants found abandoned in the territory of a state with no known parentage or nationality who would be stateless if Article 6, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph b, of the ECN was not applied.674 It is in line with the object and purpose of the ECN, in particular when looking at Article 6, paragraph 2, for states to treat abandoned children675 in their territory similar to foundlings as regards the acquisition of nationality.676 In this context, commentators have held that if no child is to be left stateless, this safeguard should, as a minimum, “apply to all young children who are not yet able to communicate accurate information pertaining to the identity of their parents or their place of birth”.677 If applied correctly, and in line with these considerations, this provision could indeed prevent statelessness effectively. The provisions in Article 6, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph b, and Article 6, paragraph 2, of the ECN thus complement Article 6, paragraph 1, under a, of the ECN, and together attempt to minimalize the risk of any child being born stateless. However, the paragraphs of Article 6 both use a formulation that indicates that they only apply if the child would otherwise be stateless or remains stateless. The question is what that means. Gerard-René de Groot explored this in depth in a chapter on children’s right to nationality and child statelessness.678 He identifies the aforementioned question on ascertaining whether a child would otherwise be stateless as one of specific challenges to children’s access to a nationality and demonstrates that guidance on these matters 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 128 Art 6(2) ECN. Art 6(2)(b) ECN. See generally also Roland Schärer, ‘The European Convention on Nationality’ (1997) 40 German Yearbook of International Law 438, 445–446; Gerard-René de Groot, ‘The European Convention on Nationality: A Step towards a Ius Commune in the Field of Nationality Law’ (2007) 7 Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law 117, 129–134. Art 6(1)(b) ECN. CoE, Explanatory Report to the European Convention on Nationality (Strasbourg, 6 November 1997, CETS No. 166) para 48. Cf the defi nition of a ‘child’ in Art 2(c) ECN. See also Gerard-René de Groot, ‘Children, their Right to a Nationality and Child Statelessness’ in Alice Edwards & Laura van Waas, Nationality and Statelessness under International Law (Cambridge University Press 2014) 144–168, 161–162. Ibid, 162. Ibid, 158–161. Intersentia