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.” “I have been living in the camp since 1971 and I hope to settle outside the camp with my children soon. I want the rights that citizens of Bangladesh have. We don’t have a dignified life: my children are not growing properly in the camp, they don’t have education, and they can only look forward to miserable work if they’ve had no education.” Syedaha, a stateless person living in Bangladesh Are there any regional treaties that address the right to a nationality? Regional instruments reinforce the legal basis of the right to a nationality. Article 20 of the American Convention on Human Rights (1969) states that: “Every person has the right to a nationality. Every person has the right to the nationality of the State in whose territory he was born if he does not have the right to any other nationality. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality or of the right to change it.” These principles have subsequently been upheld by the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court. While the Court has confirmed that the conditions under which nationality is granted remain within the domestic jurisdiction of the State, the Court also found that: “Despite the fact that it is traditionally accepted that the conferral and recognition of nationality are matters for each State to decide, contemporary developments indicate that international law does impose certain limits on the broad powers enjoyed by the States in that area and that the manner in which States regulate matters bearing on nationality cannot today be deemed to be within their sole jurisdiction.” (Inter-American Court on Human Rights, Advisory Opinion, “Amendments to the Naturalization Provision of the Constitution of Costa Rica,” paragraphs 32-34; text in 5 HRLJ 1984.) In other words, States must take into consideration the international repercussions of their domestic nationality legislation, particularly if the application of that legislation may result in statelessness. In 1963, a Europe-wide Convention on the reduction of cases of multiple nationality and on military obligations in cases of multiple nationality was adopted. That Convention is based on the notion, accepted by many Western European States at the time, that having multiple nationalities is undesirable and should be avoided. As the 1963 Convention is limited in scope to just the issue of multiple nationalities, two Protocols were added in 1977 and 1993 to cover related issues and to reflect developments in thinking and practice about nationality. For example, the Second Protocol to the Convention allows for the acquisition of multiple nationalities in the cases of second-generation migrants and spouses of mixed marriages and their children. 15