before the child turns 18 years. Prior to 1 April 2015, such a stateless child was required to have three years of lawful and habitual residence in Sweden in order to be eligible for citizenship under this provision. Another important amendment introduced to the Act on Swedish Citizenship in 2015 is contained in Section 8, which provides that a stateless person who has turned 18 years but is not yet 21, has permanent residence, and has been lawfully and habitually residing in Sweden since the age of 15, can acquire Swedish citizenship through notification. This provision does not only apply to children born stateless in Sweden, but also to young stateless persons who have lived in Sweden at least since the age of 15; it thus goes further than Article 1(2) of the 1961 Convention, which is commendable. On the other hand, it includes a requirement of permanent residence, which is not in line with Article 1(2)(b), stipulating habitual residence, as mentioned above. A child of a person who becomes a Swedish citizen by notification pursuant to Sections 6, 7, 8 or 9 of the Act on Swedish Citizenship will also acquire Swedish citizenship, provided the child has been lawfully and habitually residing in Sweden. 213 Through these amendments, the protection of children against statelessness has been further strengthened, which is commendable. While the Swedish legislation does not incorporate the provision in Article 1(1) of the 1961 Convention, by which a child who would otherwise be stateless acquires citizenship automatically, by operation of law (ex lege), it does contain fewer requirements than those permissible in application procedures pursuant to Article 1(2) of the 1961 Convention. However, UNHCR has consistently recommended States to provide for the automatic acquisition of citizenship at birth of children born on the territory who would otherwise be stateless,214 as constituting the best way to prevent childhood statelessness and ensure full compliance with Article 1 of the 1961 Convention, read in conjunction with Articles 3 and 7 of the CRC. The Government Bill on the Act on Swedish Citizenship reached the same conclusion, stating that the clearest way for Sweden to live up to its international obligations to prevent childhood statelessness, would be to grant such children citizenship automatically at birth. The Government Bill then continues to state that such a system would, however, have certain disadvantages, the main one being that an automatic acquisition of citizenship at birth would not always correspond to the parents’ wishes; according to the Government Bill, these disadvantages are of such significance that they make a system of automatic acquisition inappropriate.215 In this context, UNHCR would like to note that by placing a responsibility on the parent(s) to submit a notification for his or her child’s acquisition of Swedish citizenship, there is a risk that parents who do not fully appreciate the importance of submitting such a notification, and the impact it will have on their child’s ability to acquire citizenship, unintentionally contribute to perpetuating their child’s statelessness.216 The requirement of permanent residence of the child set out in Section 6 (and Section 8, in respect of those between 18 and 21 years) of the Act on Swedish Citizenship is not fully in line with the requirement in Article 1(2)(b) of the 1961 Convention, referring to “habitual residence”. In this context, “habitual residence” should 213 Section 10 of the Act on Swedish Citizenship. 214 See for example UNHCR, Mapping Statelessness in Norway, October 2015, p. 51, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/5653140d4.html; UNHCR, Mapping Statelessness in Iceland, December 2014, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/54c775dd4.html and UNHCR, Comments by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to the Legislative Proposal amending the Citizenship Law (Nr.52/ Lp11), August 2012, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/57ed07954.html. 215 Regeringens proposition (1999/2000: 147) Lag om svenskt medborgarskap, p. 36, available at: http://goo.gl/omYDSi. 216 UNHCR has conveyed the same view in respect of Latvia, where the Citizenship Law requires at least one of the child’s parents to register the child as a Latvian citizenship at birth; comments available at: http://goo.gl/vf1M3H. While the majority of parents have done so, since the simplified procedure came into force on 1 October 2013, the percentage of children born to noncitizens who remain stateless is 17.7 per cent. In its submission to the 2016 Universal Periodic Review, the Government of Latvia affirmed that: Since the amendments to the Citizenship Law entered into force in 2013, the number of new-borns (whose parents are both non-citizens) that are registered as Latvia’s citizens has risen from 52 per cent to 82.3 per cent. UNHCR STOCKHOLM, 2016 61