2016] The Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness in Australia 477 recently presented to the Australian Senate suggests that there are currently 38 such children.116 Of those who have lodged an application for citizenship pursuant to s 21(8) of the Citizenship Act, few have so far obtained a decision in relation to his or her application. Section 21(8) of the Citizenship Act does not condition eligibility on any particular immigration status or visa, although it does require that ‘the person was born in Australia’.117 In 2014, the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) (‘Migration Act’) was amended to provide that a child ‘born in the migration zone’ is ‘an unauthorised maritime arrival’ if ‘a parent of the person is, at the time of the person’s birth, an unauthorised maritime arrival’, and ‘the person is not an Australian citizen at the time of birth.’118 However, despite the legal fiction that deems a person born in Australia to be an ‘unauthorised maritime arrival’ for the purposes of the Migration Act, it could not plausibly be denied that the person was ‘born in Australia’ for the purposes of the Citizenship Act. On the contrary, the 1961 Convention dictates a broad interpretation of the concept of birth in a state’s territory in providing that: For the purpose of determining the obligations of Contracting States under this Convention, birth on a ship or in an aircraft shall be deemed to have taken place in the territory of the State whose flag the ship flies or in the territory of the State in which the aircraft is registered …119 It is also well established that a state cannot circumvent its international obligations by artificially deeming its territory to be excised or otherwise outside the purview of international law.120 2 Access to Australian Citizenship for Those Who Arrive in Australia as Stateless Persons If a stateless asylum seeker meets the criteria in s 36 of the Migration Act, he or she may be eligible for protection in Australia (as a refugee or beneficiary of complementary protection).121 However, the form of protection to which Australian Human Rights Commission, The Forgotten Children: National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention (2014) 90. 116 Evidence to Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, Parliament of Australia, Canberra, 5 May 2016, 27--8 (Sarah Hanson-Young). 117 Citizenship Act s 21(8)(a). 118 Migration Act 1958 (Cth) s 5AA(1A). 119 1961 Convention art 3. 120 Amuur v France [1996] III Eur Court HR 826, 836--7 [20], 851--2 [52]--[54]. 121 Foster, McAdam and Wadley, above n 6.