7.2. The right of every child to acquire a nationality KEY MESSAGES • The right of every child to a nationality is often the strongest entry point for litigation, especially at regional or international level. • The right of every child to acquire a nationality is established by the international human rights treaties, and is also provided for in more detail by the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, and by specific treaties on nationality adopted by the Council of Europe and the African Union. • The primary obligation is on the state in which the child is born to grant nationality, if the child does not acquire another nationality at birth; however, the country of nationality of the parents also has obligations to avoid statelessness if the child does not acquire the nationality of the country of birth. • Legal provisions creating a presumption of nationality in case of children of unknown parents found on the territory also require procedures to establish recognition of the child’s legal identity. • Where nationality of a child depends on the nationality of the parents, key elements of the right to a nationality are likely to be the issue of the identity documents of the parents, and the establishment of legal parentage of the child. • Questions of legal parentage can be complex, especially in case of birth out of wedlock, adopted children, children born and whose births are registered in a different country from that of the nationality of the parents, and children born through assisted reproductive technologies. • Jurisprudence from the African human rights system is beginning to support a positive right to nationality in a country where a person has the closest connections, even in the absence of proof of statelessness. The right of every child to acquire a nationality is provided in both UN and regional human rights treaties and other norms (u focus box J). This section provides guidance on how these obligations have been interpreted by the relevant treaty bodies and courts, in relation to (i) children born or found in the territory of a state, (ii) children born outside the state of nationality of their parents, and (iii) children who are adopted or born through assisted reproductive technologies.195 u section 7.3: Discrimination based on sex & gender J - The right to a nationality in international and regional human rights treaties International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 24 1. Every child shall have, without any discrimination as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, national or social origin, property or birth, the right to such measures of protection as are required by his status as a minor, on the part of his family, society and the State. 2. Every child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have a name. 3. Every child has the right to acquire a nationality. Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 7 1. The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and. as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents. 2. States Parties shall ensure the implementation of these rights in accordance with their national law and their obligations under the relevant international instruments in this field, in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless. See also the toolkit on addressing the right to a nationality through the Convention on the Rights of the Child, published by the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, and associated texts and materials: ”Addressing the right to a nationality through the Convention on the Rights of the Child: A Toolkit for Civil Society“, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, 2016, https://files.institutesi.org/CRC_Toolkit_Final.pdf; The Child’s Right To A Nationality And Childhood Statelessness: Texts and Materials, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, 2020, https://files.institutesi.org/crn_texts_materials.pdf. 195 U N H C R | L I T I G AT I N G T H E R I G H T T O A N AT I O N A L I T Y: A G U I D E F O R P R AC T I T I O N E R S 57