Issue 2: Risks of statelessness for children born in conflict zones 29. An amendment to the Danish Citizenship Act was introduced as of 1 February 2020, stating that a child born to a Danish parent who has unlawfully entered or stays in a ‘conflict zone’ will not acquire Danish nationality by birth. In an explanatory note to the bill, the Danish government states that: ‘These children are born to parents who have turned their back to Denmark and Danish values, and they cannot be expected to grow up under circumstances that will provide for their attachment to Denmark and Danish values’. Therefore children born in conflict zones should not acquire Danish nationality automatically at birth.43 The provision disregards international human rights law and principles of nationality law, including the principle of non-discrimination and that the best interests of the child should be a primary consideration. 30. According to the Danish Government the provision does not apply if the child would otherwise be stateless, however it is unclear whether statelessness will be prevented in practice. The risk of statelessness depends on the circumstances in which the child is born and may increase due to the difficulty in obtaining documentation, accessing administrative procedures and ensuring birth registration particularly when the child is born in a conflict zone and the child’s parent is affiliated with a terrorist organisation.44 31. The United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism has stressed the importance of protecting the right to a nationality and preventing statelessness of children affected by the ‘foreign fighter’ phenomenon, as well as integrating a child rights based-approach in solutions. 45 As noted in a report to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, “these children are neither responsible for the actions of their parents nor do they bear responsibility for the circumstances in which they find themselves”.46 Issue 3: Inaccurate registration of children born in Denmark and identification of statelessness 32. Gender discrimination in nationality laws is one of the primary causes of childhood statelessness. Nationality laws in 25 countries worldwide contain gender-discriminatory clauses that prevent women from passing their nationality to their children on an equal basis with men. There are also countries that discriminate against men in their ability to 43 See Eva Ersbøll, “Birthright citizenship and children born in a conflict zone”, 5 February 2020, available at https://www.statelessness.eu/blog/birthright-citizenship-and-children-born-conflict-zone 44 See also Eva Ersbøll, “Birthright citizenship and children born in a conflict zone”, 5 February 2020, available at https://www.statelessness.eu/blog/birthright-citizenship-and-children-born-conflict-zone 45 See also United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (2019), Handbook Children affected by the foreign-fighter phenomenon: Ensuring a child rights-based approach, available at: https://www.un.org/counterterrorism/handbook-children-affectedforeign-fighter-phenomenon-ensuring-child-rights-based-approach 46 Report of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development, Doc. 1505529, International obligations concerning the repatriation of children from war and conflict zones, January 2020, available at: https://pace.coe.int/pdf/37de3fb546582f7f2c8df1eb1a17bda517f988333326667a8259ffe25682ae848428feba12/doc.%201505 5.pdf. See also Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 2321 (2020), on international obligations concerning the repatriation of children from war and conflict zones; and Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 2169 (2020), on international obligations concerning the repatriation of children from war and conflict zones. 8