Safeguards against childhood statelessness Introduction Any child born stateless is severely impaired in his or her ability to pursue a productive and fulfilling life. Yet, childhood statelessness is entirely preventable and remediable. UNHCR has therefore included the elimination of statelessness at birth as one of the key actions in its Global Action Plan to End Statelessness: 2014-2024 (“Global Action Plan”).1 By building appropriate safeguards against statelessness at birth into their nationality laws, States can prevent the perpetuation of statelessness from one generation to the next and avoid situations where parents have a nationality but cannot confer it on their children. Appropriate safeguards also ensure that children who have been abandoned or orphaned and whose parents are unknown (“foundlings”) are not left stateless. Provisions in the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness The most detailed set of international standards relevant to childhood statelessness can be found in the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (1961 Convention).2 This instrument sets out three principal obligations for contracting parties that, if universally implemented, would effectively eradicate statelessness within a generation:3 • First, under Article 1 of the 1961 Convention, to grant nationality to all children born on their territory who would otherwise be stateless, either automatically or upon application, subject to certain permissible conditions, as enumerated in Article 1(1)(b). • Second, under Article 1(4) and Article 4, to confer nationality on the children born abroad to one of their nationals when those children would otherwise be stateless. • Third, under Article 2, to grant nationality to children found abandoned on their territory. 1 2 3 For an introduction to the #IBelong Campaign and Global Action Plan, visit the #IBelong website at: www.unhcr.org/ibelong-campaignto-end-statelessness.html. For a detailed explanation of Action 2 of the Global Action Plan to ensure that no child is born stateless, see UNHCR (20 March 2017). Good practices paper – Action 2: Ensuring that no child is born stateless, available at: www.refworld.org/ docid/58cfab014.html For guidance on these principles, please see UNHCR. Guidelines on statelessness No. 4: Ensuring every child’s right to acquire a nationality through Articles 1 – 4 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 21 December 2012, HCR/GS/12/04, available at: www.refworld.org/docid/50d460c72.html Since the launch of the Global Action Plan in 2014, the number of States Parties to the 1961 Convention has grown from 61 to 71. The UNHCR continues to work to encourage and help States accede to the Convention, in accordance with Action 9 of its Global Action Plan. 9