In its General Comment 17 on the rights of the child, the UN Human Rights Committee noted that: States are required to adopt every appropriate measure, both internally and in cooperation with other States, to ensure that every child has a nationality when he is born. In this connection, no discrimination with regard to the acquisition of nationality should be admissible under internal law as between legitimate children and children born out of wedlock or of stateless parents or based on the nationality status of one or both of the parents.202 These principles were elaborated on in a joint General Comment by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Migrant Workers: While States are not obliged to grant their nationality to every child born in their territory, they are required to adopt every appropriate measure, both internally and in cooperation with other States, to ensure that every child has a nationality when he or she is born. A key measure is the conferral of nationality to a child born on the territory of the State, at birth or as early as possible after birth, if the child would otherwise be stateless. States should strengthen measures to grant nationality to children born in their territory in situations where they would otherwise be stateless.203 In its guidelines on preventing statelessness among children, UNHCR has recommended that states should not register children born in their territory as holding “unknown” or “undetermined” nationality for a period exceeding five years, stressing that: “When this occurs, States need to determine whether a child would otherwise be stateless as soon as possible so as not to prolong a child’s status of undetermined nationality.”204 Similarly, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers advised in its Recommendation 13/2009 that member states should register children’s as “unknown” or “undetermined” for “as short a period as possible” as a means of reducing statelessness among children.205 Treaty bodies in Africa and at the UN have affirmed these principles:  In its decision on Kenyan Nubian children, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child highlighted that statelessness was the “antithesis of the best interests of the child”; accordingly “a purposive reading and interpretation of the relevant provision strongly suggests that, as much as possible, children should have a nationality beginning from birth.”206  The UN Human Rights Committee found in the DZ case against the Netherlands that it was not acceptable to impose the requirement for the parent to be a legal resident in order for a child to benefit from protections for stateless children born in the territory.207  In relation to questions of proof that a stateless child was born on the territory, the African Committee of Experts drew on its decision in the Kenyan Nubian Children’s case to recommend in its General Comment on the right of every child to a name, birth registration, and a nationality that: While the obligation of States is to ensure that birth registration is universal, free and accessible, as outlined in this General Comment, States should also adopt laws and procedures that allow for alternative forms of evidence of possession of a nationality where a birth certificate is not available or accessible. These may include the notification of birth provided by a hospital or clinic, oral testimony from a birth attendant, religious leader or other person with knowledge of the birth, and other appropriate forms of documentary or non-documentary evidence.208 In its General Comment, the African Committee of Experts also went beyond the UNHCR Guidelines No. 4 to provide perhaps the strongest statement on state obligations to grant nationality to a child born in the territory even if the child is not proved to be stateless. In recognition of the difficulty of proving a negative if a child’s parents have origins in another territory, it recommended that states should adopt legal provisions that provide nationality to children born on their territory not only where the child is otherwise stateless, but also in other cases where the child has the strongest connection to that state. 202 General Comment No. 17: Rights of the child (Art. 24), UN Human Rights Committee, 7 April 1989, para. 8. Joint General Comment No. 4 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and No. 23 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on State obligations regarding the human rights of children in the context of international migration in countries of origin, transit, destination and return, 16 November 2017, CMW/C/GC/4-CRC/C/GC/23, para. 23, 24, https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a12942a2b.html. 203 204 UNHCR, Guidelines on Statelessness No. 4, supra n 102, para 22. 205 Council of Europe, Recommendation CM/Rec.(2009)13 supra n 190, para. 8. 206 Kenyan Nubian Children’s Case, supra n 35, paras 46, 42. See also ACJPS & PLACE (Benjamin) v. Sudan, supra n 42, para. 57. 207 DZ v. The Netherlands, supra n 53. 208 ACERWC General Comment on art 6, supra n 55, para. 24. 60 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