Report on Citizenship Law: East Timor (Timor-Leste) whenever one of the foreign parents proves to have been born in Timorese territory,106 which includes the children of Indonesian citizens who were themselves born in East Timor during the Indonesian occupation. The Constituent Assembly could have prevented this outcome by setting a time threshold similar to the one that it later used, in its role as National Parliament,107 when regulating the naturalisation procedure in the Nationality Act. Article 3 (2) (a) would read: Timorese citizens by birth are those born in national territory to a father or a mother born in Timor-Leste before 7 December 1975 or after 20 May 2002. Alternatively, of course, the Constituent Assembly could have drafted Article 3 (2) (a) to read: Timorese citizens by birth are those born in national territory to a Timorese father or mother. But then it would have to change the wording of Article 3 (3) in order to avoid unnecessary repetitions, since Article 3 (3) already attributes Timorese citizenship by birth to individuals born in Timor-Leste to a Timorese father or mother. In the absence of a constitutional reform that changes the wording of Article 3 (2) (a) one way or another, this provision will continue to attribute Timorese citizenship by birth to all individuals born in Timor-Leste to a father or a mother also born in Timor-Leste, irrespective of the parents’ citizenship and even of the legality or illegality of their residence status in the country. Timorese authorities are therefore not authorised to refuse recognition of Timorese citizenship by birth to these individuals. The attribution results directly from the letter of the Constitution. Also, since all laws must conform to the Constitution in order to be valid [Article 2 (2) and (3) of the Constitution], there is no point in trying to narrow the scope of Article 3 (2) (a) by means of new legislative acts, as was attempted in 2004 with the Regulation of the Nationality Act. Birth in the territory to unknown parents, to stateless parents or to parents of unknown citizenship: The second category of citizens by birth identified in the Constitution is that of those born in national territory to unknown parents, to stateless parents or to parents of unknown citizenship [Article 3 (2) (b), replicated by Article 8 (1) (b) of the Nationality Act]. Even though Timor-Leste is not a party to the 1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness,108 this provision is clearly designed to prevent statelessness by attributing Timorese citizenship to individuals who would otherwise have no citizenship. It is consistent with the recognition of citizenship as a fundamental right in Article 25 (5) of the Constitution and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [Article 15 (1)], which, per Article 23 of the Constitution, provides the template for the interpretation of the constitutional provisions on fundamental rights. It is also consistent with Timor-Leste’s obligations under the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prescribes, in Article 24 (3), that ‘every child has the right to acquire a nationality’.109 Given the purpose of Article 3 (2) (b) of the Constitution, it is to be assumed that, on 20 May 2002, Timorese citizenship was attributed by operation of the law to all individuals who had been born in East Timor and who had no other citizenship. It is not clear whether this has been the interpretation adopted by the Timorese authorities. 106 It is highly unlikely that the reference, in Article 3 (2) (a), to ‘Timor-Leste’ as the place of birth of the parents was meant to cover only parents born after Timor-Leste was officially recognised as an independent state on 20 May 2002. That would lead to the absurd result of keeping the application of Article 3 (2) (a) on hold for 17 to 20 years, until the first foreigners born in Timor-Leste after independence became parents. Furthermore, although such an interpretation would provide a time threshold that would narrow the scope of Article 3 (2) (a), it would still not allow for the requirement that one of the parents be a Timorese citizen. 107 Per Article 167 (1) of the Constitution, the Constituent Assembly was converted into National Parliament with the entry into force of the Constitution. 108 Nor to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. Information available at http://www.unhcr.org/un-conventions-on-statelessness.html [24.01.2017]. 109 Timor-Leste ratified the Covenant in 2003. National Parliament Resolution no. 3/2003, of 22 July 2003, is available at http://www.mj.gov.tl/jornal/public/docs/2002_2005/resolucao_parlamento/3_2003.pdf [24.01.2017]. RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2017/7 - © 2017 Author 25