preceding three months. There are no rules regarding the process of re-documentation and ascertaining nationality. Following the adoption of a government policy in 2021, refused asylum-seekers coming from any of the countries listed as ‘safe’ in the International Protection Act are not granted access to employment.33 Issue 4 - Children’s right to a nationality 27. Every child has the right to a nationality and to be registered immediately after birth.34 These are core principles of international law, which, if applied in a comprehensive and non-discriminatory manner, would end childhood statelessness.35 States should have provisions in law to prevent statelessness at birth, including granting nationality to all children born on the territory who would otherwise be stateless, children born abroad to non-national parents, foundlings, and following an adoption process.36 28. While there are some safeguards in Maltese law to prevent statelessness, implementation is problematic and there are some gaps. There is a non-automatic provision in the Citizenship Act for children born stateless in Malta to acquire nationality after five years' residence, provided that they have not been convicted of any offence against any State or sentenced to more than five years' imprisonment. There is no age limit in the provision, but a person may only submit an application once they have turned 18. The legal status or residence of the parents has no bearing on the right to acquire Maltese nationality of a stateless child born on the territory. However, this provision is little-known and there are no reports of it ever having been used. 37 Foundlings are deemed to be Maltese from birth, but the wording of the provision leaves open the possibility of statelessness arising later in life or if parents are identified.38 29. The Citizenship Act provides for Maltese nationality to be conferred through jus sanguinis to children born to Maltese nationals in Malta or abroad, but the Act distinguishes between children born in and out of wedlock. The acquisition of Maltese nationality by children born abroad on or after 1 August 1989 to an unmarried Maltese father and a foreign mother is dependent on the father’s acknowledgement, even if pending this acknowledgement they would be stateless. Children born to a married Maltese father automatically acquire Maltese nationality. In 2011, the European Court of Human Rights found discriminatory the differential treatment of a child born abroad out of wedlock to a Maltese father and a foreign mother, who was then not able to acquire Maltese nationality.39 Maltese law still contains these limitations distinguishing between children born in and out of wedlock and between children born to an 33 Regulation 5(1), Reception Regulations, available at: http://justiceservices.gov.mt/DownloadDocument.aspx?app=lom&itemid=10662; Information based on aditus foundation practice/casework; Subsidiary Legislation 420.06, Amended by Law 417 of 2015, Reception of Asylum Seekers Regulations 2005, available at: http://justiceservices.gov.mt/DownloadDocument.aspx?app=lom&itemid=10662. 34 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 1961, Articles 1 and 4; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966, Article 24(2); Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, Articles 3 and 7; UNHCR, Global Action Plan to End Statelessness 2014-24 (2014): Action 7; UN Sustainable Development Goal 16.9. 35 See Article 7 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, read in conjunction with Articles 2 and 3. 36 See, e.g., UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 1961: Articles 1-4. European Convention on Nationality, 1997: Articles 2 and 6. 37 Maltese Citizenship Act, Chapter 188 Section 10, available at: http://www.justiceservices.gov.mt/DownloadDocument.aspx?app=lom&itemid=8702&l=1. 38 Maltese Citizenship Act, Chapter 188 Section 17(3), & 5(1)(3) and Part VI, available at: http://www.justiceservices.gov.mt/DownloadDocument.aspx?app=lom&itemid=8702&l=1 39 European Court of Human Rights, Genovese v. Malta, application no. 53124/09, 11 October 2011. 8