I. INTRODUCTION a) Overview 1. Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights establishes the right of every person to a nationality. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (“CRC”) states that every child has the right to acquire a nationality. The object and purpose of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (“1961 Convention”) is to prevent and reduce statelessness, thereby ensuring every individual’s right to a nationality, including every child’s right to acquire a nationality. The 1961 Convention establishes rules on acquisition, renunciation, loss and deprivation of nationality. 2. Articles 1-4 of the 1961 Convention principally concern acquisition of nationality by children. The cornerstone of efforts to prevent statelessness among children is the safeguard contained in Article 1 of the 1961 Convention. Article 1 gives a child who would otherwise be stateless the right to acquire the nationality of his or her State of birth through one of two means. A State may grant its nationality automatically, by operation of law (ex lege) to children born in its territory who would otherwise be stateless. Alternatively, a State may grant nationality to such individuals later upon application. The grant of nationality on application may, according to Article 1(2), be subject to one or more of four conditions as discussed in greater detail in paragraphs 36-48 of these Guidelines. 3. The 1961 Convention further includes provisions for acquisition of the mother’s nationality by descent if the child was born in the mother’s State and would otherwise be stateless (Article 1(3)), acquisition of the nationality of a parent by descent via an application procedure for individuals who do not acquire nationality of the State of birth (Article 1(4)), and on acquisition of the nationality of a parent by descent for individuals born abroad who would otherwise be stateless (Article 4). Article 2 contains a provision regulating nationality of foundlings while Article 3 establishes a rule regulating the territorial scope of the Convention. Article 12 sets out transitional provisions covering the temporal scope of Article 1. All of these provisions are discussed at greater length below. 4. As set out in Article 17 of the 1961 Convention, Contracting States are not permitted to make reservations to Articles 1-4. However, as noted above, some provisions permit Contracting States to make a choice between two or more ways to address statelessness amongst children. 5. These Guidelines are intended to assist States, UNHCR, and other actors to interpret and apply Articles 1-4 and Article 12 of the 1961 Convention. b) General Considerations for the Interpretation of the 1961 Convention 6. Articles 1-4 of the 1961 Convention are to be interpreted in good faith and in accordance with the ordinary meaning of the terms used in the text, in their context and in light of the 1 object and purpose of the Convention. Where relevant, these Guidelines also refer to the drafting history of the treaty and similarities or differences with corresponding obligations in other, in particular more recent, treaties. 7. With respect to interpreting the plain language of the text of the Convention, it is important to acknowledge that the Convention was drafted in five official United Nations languages (Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) and that all five language versions are equally authentic. There are some minor discrepancies in meaning between the different language versions but these are resolved through application of the rules of treaty interpretation and, in particular, by recourse to the meaning which best reconciles the texts, 2 having regard to the object and purpose of the treaty. 1 2 Please see Article 31 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, UNTS 1155, 331. Please see Article 33 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, UNTS 1155, 331. 2