4.3.1.4 BIRTH ON A SHIP OR AIRCRAFT According to Section 8 of the Nationality Act, being born on a Finnish ship or aircraft in the territory of a foreign State or in international territory is equivalent to being born in Finland, which is compatible with Article 3 of the 1961 Convention. 4.3.2 Avoidance of statelessness upon change in civil status Change of civil status does not have negative implications in terms of Finnish nationality. Finnish nationality cannot be revoked based on a change of civil status. In accordance with Section 11 of the Nationality Act, a child who does not acquire Finnish nationality based on Section 9 or by declaration acquires Finnish nationality based on her or his parents’ marriage as per the date of the marriage if the father was a Finnish national at the time of the birth and has been ever since, and the paternity has been established before the marriage. In case the paternity is only established after the marriage and the father is still a Finnish national, the child acquires Finnish nationality as of the date of the establishment of the paternity. If the father has died after the marriage was contracted, the child acquires Finnish citizenship as of the date when the paternity was established if the father was a Finnish citizen at the time of his death. The Finnish legislation on avoidance of statelessness upon change in civil status is in compliance with the Article 5 of the 1961 Convention. 4.3.3 Avoidance of statelessness in the context of renunciation, loss or deprivation of nationality The decision-making authority with regard to acquisition, loss, renunciation and deprivation of Finnish nationality is Migri.173 Section 5 of the Finnish Constitution states that a person can only be released from her or his Finnish nationality if the person has or will acquire the nationality of another state. The same principle is repeated in Section 4 of the Nationality Act, which states that the provisions of the Act on loss and release of nationality cannot be applied if the person as a consequence would become stateless. Specific provisions on loss and retention of Finnish nationality are found in Chapter 5 of the Nationality Act. However, it should be noted that in accordance with Section 4 of the Act, these provisions cannot be applied if as a result the person would become stateless. The provisions are however briefly explained here in order to give a comprehensive picture of the Finnish nationality legislation in terms of renunciation and deprivation of nationality. First of all, a child may be deprived of her or his Finnish nationality in accordance with Section 32 if the paternity of the father through whom the child acquired his or her Finnish nationality has been annulled. The Section states in detail that if the husband’s paternity has been annulled or if a claim which has resulted in his paternity being annulled has been brought before the child has reached the age of five years, or if an established paternity (in case of parents who are not married to each other) has been annulled or if a claim which has resulted in the annulment of paternity has been brought within five years of establishing paternity, a decision may be made to the effect that the child loses the Finnish nationality which she or he has acquired on the basis the father’s Finnish nationality. Such decision is however based on an overall consideration of the 173 50 Based on Section 3 of the Nationality Act. MAPPING STATELESSNESS IN FINL AND