Children

KEY MESSAGES  

• Intergenerational statelessness is the leading cause of statelessness globally. On average, more children are born stateless each year than the number of stateless people who are able to acquire a nationality.  
• All children have the right to nationality and statelessness is never in the best interests of a child. All states have an obligation to ensure no child is born stateless within their territory.  
• Legal safeguards to prevent childhood statelessness are lacking in 60 countries globally and where they do exist, they are often ineffective in practice 
• Realizing the child’s right to nationality is critical to ensure their unhindered enjoyment of other rights such as education and healthcare. 
• Many stateless children do not hold identity documentation and may not have their births registered. This puts them at heightened risk of abuse, exploitation, child labour, trafficking, child marriage and recruitment into armed forces. 
• Without a nationality, stateless children can also struggle to develop a sense of belonging, which aggravates the impact on statelessness on their mental health. 

CHILDREN AND NATIONALITY 

Which nationality a child is entitled to at birth depends on who their parents are, where the child is born and what the laws of these countries say about the conferral of nationality. Nationality is usually acquired either by descent (jus sanguinis) or by birth on the state’s territory (jus soli), or through a combination of both. Most children acquire their nationality immediately after birth, often automatically and without any difficulty. However, this is not the case for all children. When a child does not acquire any nationality at birth or loses their only nationality during childhood, this makes them stateless.  

When a child lacks a nationality, this creates a situation of severe disadvantage, vulnerability and marginalisation. Even though child rights should be enjoyed by all children, regardless of whether they have a nationality or not, in our modern world, nationality often operates as a legal or practical gateway to the enjoyment of other rights. Statelessness undermines the child’s opportunity to develop to his or her full potential because of the significant impact it has on all other rights, including their access to education, healthcare, free movement, and family life. Nationality also fosters inclusion and a sense of belonging within the society and so stateless children can struggle with questions about their identity and place in the world, affecting their feelings of self-worth. Statelessness and the disadvantages that it creates have the tendency of becoming entrenched and if their situation is not resolved, stateless children grow up to be disenfranchised and excluded as adults too.  

PROTECTING EVERY CHILD’S RIGHT TO A NATIONALITY 

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognises the right to a nationality. This right is reaffirmed specifically for children across a number of the core UN human rights conventions, the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, and several regional treaties. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) articulates the right to a nationality of every child in its Articles 7 and 8 - obligating states to take measures to avoid cases of childhood statelessness and to help children to (re)establish their identity, including nationality, if deprived of it. The other rights contained in the CRC must also be available to all children, irrespective of their nationality, immigration status or statelessness. The CRC’s guiding principles – in particular non-discrimination (article 2) and the best interests of the child (article 3) – help to guide the content and implementation of the right to a nationality and measures that affect stateless children. Statelessness is never in the best interests of a child. 

Through its monitoring role, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is uniquely placed to enhance the visibility of childhood statelessness as a human rights issue, improve the enjoyment of rights by stateless children and ensure every child’s right to a nationality. For example, the Committee has clarified that Article 7 of the CRC requires states to grant nationality to all children born on their territory if they would otherwise be stateless regardless of their or their parents’ legal status, background or their parents’ past opinions or activities. In the period 2010-2020, the Committee engaged with the child’s right to a nationality and childhood statelessness in over 70% of its recommendations to states when reviewing the implementation of their obligations under the CRC and its continuing engagement covers an array of issues relating to the right to nationality and childhood statelessness.  

Guidance to states from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, as well as jurisprudence of the UN Human Rights Committee and at the regional level in Africa and Europe, has further clarified the importance of resolving uncertainty relating to a child’s nationality. This should happen as early as possible. If a child’s nationality cannot be established immediately or very soon after birth, when the evidence of who their parents are and where they were born is strongest, it becomes increasingly difficult to do so as the child grows older. Without help early on, a child is more likely to be left stateless and may live their entire life without a nationality and one day have children who are also denied a nationality.  

UNHCR and UNICEF hold global mandates to address statelessness and protect the rights of all children respectively. Each has participated in the production and issuance of further guidance on international norms for the avoidance of childhood statelessness and how to promote the protection of the child’s right to a nationality. The two agencies also joined forces in 2016 to launch the Coalition on Every Child’s Right to a Nationality. The UN Sustainable Development Goals sets out goals for States, which though technically require structural change, can also help to prevent childhood statelessness – for example target 16.9 which focuses on the provision of legal identity and birth registration. International campaigns, such as the Global Campaign on Equal Nationality Rights pursue advocacy avenues intent on ending gender discrimination in nationality laws, which has an indirect impact of preventing childhood statelessness; and an increasing number of civil society groups, local organizations, academics and activists engage with this issue in their daily work.  

[Last updated: January 2024] 

Cover image by Greg Constantine