Chapter 3. The Council of Europe should be promoted and supported”.595 Unfortunately, there are no clear steps included to facilitate and/or monitor such promotion. The Assembly has also drawn special attention to statelessness among children in Europe in its 2016 resolution on the need to eradicate statelessness of children.596 In this resolution, the PACE asks member states to take steps to eradicate childhood statelessness. In particular, it urges states to ratify the relevant legal instruments of the CoE as well as the 1954 and the 1961 Conventions. It calls upon states to ensure compliance with the aforementioned legal instruments in their domestic laws, introduce or upgrade statelessness determination procedures, and ensure immediate birth registration, which could aid in preventing and solving statelessness among children. What is particularly interesting is that the PACE also invites states to participate in UNHCR’s Global Plan to End Statelessness (2014–2024)597 and promote the prevention and resolution of statelessness using, for instance, the UN UPR system. This seems to indicate that statelessness among children is not an issue that can be effectively addressed using only regional instruments, but should be addressed using all (legal) means possible. In terms of childhood statelessness, it is also interesting to note that the PACE has discussed the issue of children’s rights related to surrogacy. In the report for the PACE on the matter, it is explicitly noted that “cross-border surrogacy can be a source of statelessness for children”.598 This indicates that any (legal) follow-up to this might include something on the prevention of statelessness among children born as a result of cross-border surrogacy arrangements. Unfortunately, however, the PACE voted against the adoption of a recommendation to the CM599 on the exploration of the possibility of European guidelines ensuring children’s rights in relation to surrogacy arrangement.600 Concerns regarding childhood statelessness have furthermore been highlighted in the CoE Action Plan on Protecting Refugee and Migrant Children in Europe. This plan was adopted in May 2017 by the CM and “outlines concrete actions for the benefit of refugee and migrant children, according to their rights and adapted to their specific situations.”601 This plan includes the objective of ensuring that every child has a nationality and proposes that the implementation in practice of the principle of avoiding statelessness in relation to child migrants is to be examined and appropriate solutions should be identified in the form of practical guidance. 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 CoE CM Reply to PACE Recommendation 2042 (2014) (1205th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies, 9 July 2014) Doc 13583. PACE Resolution 2099 (2016): The Need to Eradicate Statelessness of Children. See on UNHCR’s work also para 1.5.1. PACE, ‘Report and Draft Recommendation: Children’s Rights Related to Surrogacy’, Doc 14140, 23 September 2016, para 21, 25. PACE, ‘Children’s Rights Related to Surrogacy’, Doc 14140, 11 October 2016, compendium of amendments to Draft Recommendation. PACE, ‘Vote on Recommendation’ <http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/Votes/DB-VotesResults-EN.asp? VoteID=36189&DocID=16001&MemberID=> accessed 26 May 2021. CoE CM, ‘Action Plan on Protecting Refugee and Migrant Children’ (127th Session of the Committee of Ministers, Nicosia, 19 May 2017) CM(2017)54-fi nal. Intersentia 115