Part II. European Law on Nationality and Statelessness Each of the (key) instruments is analyzed in a similar manner, studying the instrument and explanatory background documents and, where appropriate, case law and/or related legal documents, as well as literature and commentaries from academics and, if relevant and as a complementary source, studies from civil society organizations and other institutions. An important source that is used to provide more background to the provisions of CoE treaties are the associated explanatory reports. Note that explanatory reports of the CoE are drafted by the committee of experts that was also responsible for a draft of the respective treaty. They are published with the convention when it is adopted by the Committee of Ministers (CM). Explanatory reports are not an authoritative interpretation of the treaty they concern, but could facilitate the interpretation and implementation of the provisions of the convention. As such they provide a good background to any CoE treaty.488 The CoE legal instruments are available on the CoE website through the Treaty Office489, and for specific recommendations and resolutions of the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) and the CM relating to nationality and statelessness separate searches were also conducted in the databases with documents of the respective bodies.490 All literature is selected based on their relevance and quality. This chapter first explores more generally the different instruments, actors and trends in relation to nationality and statelessness in the CoE in section 3.2. Section 3.3 provides a deeper analysis of the relevant legal instruments on preventing and solving statelessness, in line with the analytical framework as developed in earlier chapters. As such, the aspects of the different instruments relating to childhood statelessness; conflicts of nationality law, or loss or (arbitrary) deprivation of nationality; the right to a nationality and acquisition of nationality; nationality matters and statelessness in relation to state succession; and non-discrimination are considered thoroughly. Concluding remarks on the contribution of European law made by the CoE to the prevention of and solutions to statelessness can be found in section 3.4, which also reflects on how these observations help us to understand the legal concept of nationality today. 488 490 See CoE, ‘About Conventions in the Council of Europe Treaty Series (CETS)’ <www.coe.int/en/web/ conventions/about-treaties> accessed 24 May 2021. CoE, ‘Treaty Office’ <www.coe.int/en/web/dlapil/treaty-office> accessed 24 May 2021. CoE, ‘Committee of Ministers – Documents’ <www.coe.int/en/web/cm/documents> accessed 24 May 2021; CoE, ‘Parliamentary Assembly – Documents’ <https://pace.coe.int/en/pages/officialdocuments> accessed 24 May 2021. Key words and subjects that were used for instance: nationality, stateless person, stateless, statelessness. 96 Intersentia 489