citizenship is submitted, instead of relying on the one done by the Swedish Tax Agency in the context of the registration of the child in the Population Register. It has not been possible, within the scope of this research, to analyse to what extent the SMA reaches a different conclusion than the Swedish Tax Agency. For example, it appears that the SMA Citizenship Unit normally concludes that a child has acquired the nationality of a presumed father, even when his paternity has not been established, provided he is a national of a country which allows fathers to transmit their nationality to their children. The Swedish Tax Agency, on the other hand, requires the paternity to be established, before investigating whether the father could transmit his nationality to the child. Hence, as mentioned in Section 3.5 above, UNHCR recommends that the definition of a stateless person be transformed into national law, that a common definition of “unknown” nationality be adopted, and that procedural guidelines be developed for a consistent determination of whether an individual is stateless. 4.3.1.2 BIRTH OUTSIDE THE STATE’S TERRITORY Article 4 of the 1961 Convention provides that a Contracting State shall “grant its nationality to a person, not born in the territory of a Contracting State, who would otherwise be stateless, if the nationality of one of his parents at the time of the person’s birth was that of that State.” Read in light of developments in international human rights law, Article 4 requires Contracting States to the 1961 Convention to provide for automatic acquisition of their nationality at birth by a child who would otherwise be stateless and is born abroad to a national or, for States which have an application procedure, to grant nationality shortly after birth.227 Since 1 April 2015, when the most recent amendments to the Act on Swedish Citizenship entered into force, a child acquires Swedish citizenship if one of his or her parents is a Swedish national, regardless of whether the child is born in Sweden or abroad, pursuant to Section 2 of the Act. Prior to this, a child born outside the territory of Sweden to a Swedish mother would automatically acquire Swedish citizenship, while a child born abroad to a non-Swedish mother and Swedish father would only acquire Swedish citizenship if the parents married, or through an application by the father. Section 2 of the Act on Swedish Citizenship is thus in full compliance with Article 4 of the 1961 Convention. 4.3.1.3 FOUNDLINGS Article 2 of the 1961 Convention provides that “a foundling found in the territory of a Contracting State shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be considered to have been born within that territory of parents possessing the nationality of that State.” At a minimum, the safeguard for Contracting States to grant nationality to foundlings is to apply to all young children who are not yet able to communicate accurately information pertaining to the identity of their parents or their place of birth. This flows from the object and purpose of the 1961 Convention and also from the right of every child to acquire a nationality. A contrary interpretation would leave some children stateless.228 According to Section 3 of the Act on Swedish Citizenship, a foundling is considered to be a Swedish national until any indication to the contrary becomes known. This provision is in compliance with Article 2 of the 1961 Convention. 4.3.1.4 BIRTH ON A SHIP OR AIRCRAFT Article 3 of the 1961 Convention provides that “a birth on a ship or in an aircraft shall be deemed to have taken place in the territory of the State whose flag the ship flies or in the territory of the State in which the aircraft is registered, as the case may be”. This provision should be interpreted as referring to all vessels 66 227 UNHCR, Guidelines, para. 52. 228 Ibid., paras. 57-61. M A P P I N G S TAT E L E S S N E S S I N S W E D E N