European States’ Obligations to Repatriate the Children Detained in Camps in Northeast Syria child acquires a nationality at birth or as soon as possible after birth, 194 and that no children are left stateless—or with their nationality status undetermined195—for an extended period of time.196 In this respect, “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.”197 Notably, the obligations imposed on States are not only applicable to the child’s country of birth, but to all countries with which a child has a link, such as through parentage. 198 Birth registration is another critical component of children’s right to acquire nationality. All children have the right to birth registration, regardless of where they were born and of their parents’ status (i.e. nationality, refugee, stateless, married). 199 States must take all necessary measures to ensure that all children are immediately registered at birth, are issued birth certificates, and have a proof of legal identity. 200 Since the lack of birth registration and a child has access to a nationality. See: CoE, Committee of Ministers, “The Nationality of Children Recommendation CM/Rec(2009)13 and Explanatory Memorandum”, 2009/13, 9 December 2009 (7th Sitting), preamble. 194 HRComm, “General Comment No. 17 on Article 24 Rights of the Child,” 7 April 1989, para. 8. Note also: “The Committee also urges the State party to undertake all measures necessary for ensuring that all children have the right, from birth and to the greatest extent possible, to know and be cared for by their parents,” see: CommRC, “Concluding Observations: Czech Republic,” CRC/C/CZE/CO/3-4, 4 August 2011, para. 38. 195 See: ECtHR, “Mennesson v. France,” Application No. 65192/11, 26 September 2014, para. 97. HRComm, “Zhao v. The Netherlands,” CCPR/C/130/D/2918/2016, 19 October 2020. 196 CRC, Articles 3 and 7. African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC), “Nubian Minors v. Kenya,” 22 March 2011, para. 29.; UNHCR, “Guidelines on Statelessness No. 4: Ensuring Every Child's Right to Acquire a Nationality through Articles 1-4 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness,” HCR/GS/12/04, 21 December 2012. 197 HRComm, “General Comment No. 17: Article 24 (Rights of the Child)”, 7 April 1989, para. 8. 198 UN High Commissioner for Refugees (“UNHCR”), “Expert Meeting Interpreting the 1961 Statelessness Convention and Preventing Statelessness among Children Summary Conclusions”, para. 5. 199 UDHR, Article 6; CRC, Article 7(1); ICCPR, Article 24(2); ICRMW, Article 29; UNICEF, “Every Child's Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration”, December 2013, p. 4. 200 Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (“OHCHR”), “Report on Birth Registration and the Right of Everyone to Recognition Everywhere as A Person Before the Law”, A/HRC/27/22, 17 June 2014, para. 3-4; Human Rights Council, “Resolution on The Right to a Nationality: Women and Children”, A/HRC/RES/20/4, 16 July 2012, para. 5; Human Rights Council, “Resolution on Human Rights and Arbitrary Deprivation of Nationality”, 15 July 2016, A/HRC/RES/32/5, para. 11-12; CMW and CommRC, “Joint General Comment No. 4 (2017) of the CMW and No. 23 (2017) of the CRC on State Obligations Regarding the Human Rights of Children in the Context of International Migration in Countries of Origin, Transit, Destination and Return”, CMW/C/GC/4-CRC/C/GC/23, 16 November 2017, pp. 20-22. See also: UNICEF, “Every Child's Birth Right: Inequities and Trends in Birth Registration”, December 2013, p. 4; UNICEF, “A Passport to Protection: A Guide to Birth Registration Programming”, December 2013; UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “Principles and Recommendations for a Vital Statistics System,” Revision 2, Series M/19, 2001; UNHCR, “UNHCR Action to Address Statelessness: A Strategy Note”, March 2010, p. 11. For birth registration as a right under customary international human rights law see: Kathryn Hampton, “Born in the Twilight Zone: Birth Registration in Insurgent Areas”, International Review of the Red Cross, No. 911, August 2019. 37