10 determining the applicability of the 1961 Convention to particular individuals. Rather than excluding specific categories of individuals who are viewed as undeserving or not requiring protection against statelessness, the 1961 Convention adopts a different approach. It allows Contracting States to apply certain exhaustively listed exceptions to individuals to whom they 11 would otherwise be obliged to grant nationality. b) Focus on the Situation of the Child 18. The term “would otherwise be stateless,” means that the child would be stateless unless a Contracting State with which he or she has a link through birth in the territory or birth to a national of that State grants that child its nationality. To determine whether a child would otherwise be stateless requires determining whether the child has acquired the nationality of another State, either from his or her parents (jus sanguinis principle) or from the State on whose territory he or she was born (jus soli principle). Children are always stateless when their parents are stateless and if they are born in a country which does not grant nationality on the basis of birth in the territory. Yet, children can also be stateless if born in a State which does not apply the jus soli principle and if one or both parents possess a nationality but neither can confer it upon their children. The test is whether a child is stateless because he or she acquires neither the nationality of his or her parents nor that of the State of his or her birth; it is not an inquiry into whether a child’s parents are stateless. Restricting the application of Article 1 of the 1961 Convention to children of stateless parents is insufficient in light of the different ways in which a child may be rendered stateless and contrary to the terms of those provisions. c) Determination of the Non-Possession of any Foreign Nationality 19. A Contracting State must accept that a person is not a national of a particular State if the authorities of that State refuse to recognize that person as a national. A State can refuse to recognize a person as a national either by explicitly stating that he or she is not a national or 12 by failing to respond to inquiries to confirm an individual as a national. A Contracting State to the 1961 Convention cannot avoid the obligations to grant its nationality to a person who would otherwise be stateless under Articles 1 and 4 based on its own interpretation of another State’s nationality laws where this conflicts with the interpretation applied by the State concerned. 20. In most legal systems, a claimant bears the initial responsibility of substantiating his or her claim. Because of the difficulties that often arise when determining whether an individual has acquired a nationality, the burden of proof must be shared between the claimant and the authorities of the Contracting State to obtain evidence and to establish the facts as to whether an individual would otherwise be stateless. The claimant and his or her parents/guardians have the responsibility to cooperate and to provide all documentation and information reasonably available to them while the relevant authority is required to obtain and present all relevant evidence reasonably available to it. 21. There is no universal standard for assessing evidence of whether a child would otherwise be stateless. The consequence of an incorrect finding that a child possesses a nationality would be to leave him or her stateless. Therefore, decision makers need to take into account Articles 3 and 7 of the CRC and adopt an appropriate standard of proof, for example that it is established to a “reasonable degree” that an individual would be stateless unless he or she acquires the nationality of the State concerned. Requiring a higher standard of proof would undermine the object and purpose of the 1961 Convention. Special procedural considerations to address the acute challenges faced by children, especially unaccompanied children, in (b) They have committed a serious non-political crime outside the country of their residence prior to their admission to that country; (c) They have been guilty of acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. 10 The same applies for reservations in respect of the personal scope made by some State Parties to the 1954 Convention. 11 These conditions will be addressed below in paragraphs 36-48. 12 Please see further the Definition Guidelines at paragraphs 16 and 34. 5