Chapter 3. The Council of Europe The ECN is a treaty that lays down principles and rules relating to all aspects of the nationality of individuals.532 It contains a number of human rights principles concerning nationality.533 These can be found in the ECN’s general principles, which provide a basis for the laws on nationality of each state party to the ECN: a) everyone has the right to a nationality; b) statelessness shall be avoided; no one shall arbitrarily be deprived of his or her nationality; and d) neither marriage nor the dissolution of a marriage between a national of a state party and an alien, nor the change of nationality by one of the spouses during marriage, shall automatically affect the nationality of the other spouse.534 Furthermore, the principle of non-discrimination in nationality matters is included separately in the ECN.535 At the same time, however, one of the ECN’s general principles – and, like the other principles, a guiding principle in international public law – is that each state determines under its own law who its nationals are, thus explicitly respecting state sovereignty and authority in matters regarding nationality.536 Nonetheless, the national laws of a state that regulate nationality issues are only to be respected by other states insofar as they comply with international (human rights) standards.537 This means that states do not have to respect domestic laws that, for instance, outright discriminate in nationality matters: laws like those used in Nazi Germany to deprive individuals of their nationality on political, racial, or religious grounds. After a preamble and introductory articles setting out the object of the convention, definitions538 – including a definition of ‘nationality’539 – and general principles, the ECN sets out rules relating to the acquisition and loss of nationality, as well as procedures relating to nationality.540 A separate chapter of the treaty is devoted to multiple nationality, as well as to military obligations in cases of multiple nationality.541 As was discussed already, the ECN remains neutral as regards the desirability of multiple nationality and is able to coexist with the 1963 CoE Convention. In fact, the ECN’s provisions concerning military obligations in cases of multiple nationality are copied from the 1963 CoE Convention and the Protocol amending the 1963 CoE Convention.542 The ECN is furthermore particularly innovative in its chapter that relates specifically to nationality and state succession. It can be viewed as the ECN’s 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 Cf Art 1 ECN. Laura van Waas, Nationality Matters. Statelessness under International Law (School of Human Rights Research Series Vol. 29, Intersentia 2008) 61. Art 4 ECN. Art 5 ECN. Art 3(1) ECN, see also CoE, Explanatory Report to the European Convention on Nationality (Strasbourg, 6 November 1997, CETS No. 166) para 28. Art 3(2) ECN, see also ibid, para 29. Art 2 ECN. Art 2(a) ECN. Chapters III & IV ECN. Chapters V & VII ECN. See also CoE, Explanatory Report to the European Convention on Nationality (Strasbourg, 6 November 1997, CETS No. 166) para 124. Intersentia 105