Part II. European Law on Nationality and Statelessness
on the nationality of children591 can be helpful to preventing and solving childhood
statelessness as well.592 This important ‘soft law’-instrument was adopted by the
CM in 2009 and stresses the activities of the CoE in the field of nationality law and
its competence in these matters. The principles included in this Recommendation and
their relevance to preventing and solving statelessness are discussed in section 3.3.
In addition to these important CM recommendations, the PACE has been active on
the issue of statelessness, issuing a resolution and recommendation in 2014 on access to
nationality and the effective implementation of the ECN.593 In this resolution, the PACE
recommends that the CM:
“2.1. examine ways and means of promoting accession to the European Convention on
Nationality (CETS No. 166), as well as its speedy implementation at national level;
2.2. re-establish an expert committee on nationality, which could conduct a study on new
trends related to nationality matters, such as the growing acceptance of multiple nationality,
acquisition of nationality at birth by children of long-term residents or conditions for
naturalisation, including the criterion of residence, and examine the current and continuous
relevance of the Convention on the Reduction of Cases of Multiple Nationality and on
Military Obligations in Cases of Multiple Nationality (CETS No. 43) and its protocols (CETS
No. 95, CETS No. 96 and CETS No. 149);
2.3. stimulate and supervise, in co-ordination with the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees, the member States in the establishment of a statelessness determination
procedure at the national level, in accordance with their obligation under the European
Convention on Nationality to avoid statelessness;
2.4. draft a recommendation on the matters referred to in paragraph 2.1 above.”594
This showed promise for further development and possibilities as regards nationality
(and statelessness). Unfortunately, the reply by the CM was not so promising. Even
though the CM welcomed the attention that is drawn to the right to a nationality,
re-establishment of the CJ-NA proved not possible for financial reasons, and the CDCJ
continues to be the primary organ responsible for the conventions relating to this
matter. Concerning a possible recommendation, the CM believes the current framework
to be sufficient, but “implementation of the current standards in the Member States
591
592
593
594
114
Recommendation CM/Rec (2009) 13 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the
nationality of children (adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 9 December 2009 at the 1073rd
meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies).
See also Gerard-René de Groot, ‘Children, Their Right to Nationality and Child Statelessness’ in
Alice Edwards & Laura van Waas (eds), Nationality and Statelessness under International Law
(Cambridge University Press 2014) 144–168, 156; Brad K Blitz, ‘Policy Responses and Global
Discourse on the Rights of Non-Citizens and Stateless People’ in Caroline Sawyer & Brad K Blitz,
Statelessness in the European Union. Displaced, Undocumented, Unwanted (Cambridge University
Press) 108–138, 122.
PACE Resolution 1989 (2014) Final version; PACE Recommendation 2042 (2014) Final version, with
reference to PACE Resolution 1989 (2014).
PACE Recommendation 2042 (2014) Final version, with reference to PACE Resolution 1989 (2014).
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