birth. However, Brazil’s civil registration structure is very complex, which complicates uniform nationwide access to birth registration. Furthermore, the country’s geography presents many practical challenges to birth registration, especially for indigenous groups and unauthorized migrants. In response to these challenges, the state has created a number of innovative campaigns to promote registration. Yet such campaigns often falter in practice due to a lack of state oversight over public servants in remote regions, some of whom misinterpret nationality laws (either accidentally or intentionally), creating discriminatory practices. Because of its economic boom and development, Brazil experienced increased migration between 2004 and 2010,79 with a particular influx of unauthorized migrants seeking employment in its agricultural and manufacturing sectors.80 A healthy economy and the small size of the migrant population, compared to the population of the nation as a whole, have generally limited anti-immigrant sentiment. However, Brazil entered a political and economic crisis in 2011,81 and the resulting social and political response to migration flows pose a threat to this equanimity that may lead to restriction of jus soli norms. Political and Historical Background Portugal, which ruled Brazil for three centuries, drafted Brazil’s first Constitution in 1822,82 the same year Brazil gained its independence. For this reason, Brazil did not inherit a set of constitutional rules governing nationality in its first Constitution.83 In its history as an independent state since September 7, 1822, the country has enacted eight Constitutions, all of which guarantee nationality based on unrestricted jus soli.84 All amendments to these Constitutions related to nationality laws have addressed gaps in the legislation and the restrictions Brazilian parents face in securing nationality for their children based on jus sanguinis norms.85 Jus soli norms have remained unaltered in law. International Obligations Regarding Statelessness Brazil is a state party to the ACHR,86 which binds it to the obligations established in Article 20 of the Convention. Brazil is also a signatory to other relevant international treaties that provide legal protections to the right to nationality, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC),87 as well as to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).88 Furthermore, Brazil is a party to both international treaties that specifically address the issue of statelessness: 40 COUNTRY PROFILES l BRAZIL