Building a Europe for and with children
|
|
Children and nationality |
|
10.06.14
The Council of Europe has strived for many years
to set minimum standards in the field of nationality and has produced a
number of legal instruments in the field.[1]
Nowadays, children are considered as subjects possessing their own rights
and obligations, rather than mere objects of international law. In this
perspective, the main aims of the Recommendation on the nationality of
children, adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in
2009, are to reduce statelessness of children, to facilitate their access to
a nationality and to ensure their right to a nationality.
The
Recommendation states a set of principles and objectives on reducing
statelessness, nationality as a consequence of a child-parent family
relationship, children born on the territory of a state to a foreign parent,
the position of children treated as nationals, the rights of children in
proceedings affecting their nationality and registration of birth.
The
Recommendation intends to apply to a number of situations such as cases of
children of unmarried couples, of foreign children adopted by nationals, of
children conceived through medically assisted reproductive techniques and of
children of parents of foreign origin born or growing up in their state of
residence.
The
Recommendation recalls the usefulness of co-operation and, where
appropriate, the obligation to exchange information on the nationality of
children among member states in order to ensure that a child has access to a
nationality; and encourage member states to be guided in their legislation,
policies and practice by its rules and principles.
The
Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Nils Muižnieks,
considers that this Recommendation provides very useful guidance for member
states on improving protection of children against statelessness and on
taking proactive measures to ensure respect for the overarching principle of
the best interest of children.
[1]
Mainly the 1997 European Convention on Nationality (CETS No. 166),
the 2006 Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in Relation to
State Succession (CETS No. 200) and the Recommendation 99 (18) on
the avoidance and the reduction of statelessness.
Links: Interview with the Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner European Network on Statelessness - "Campaign to protect stateless people in Europe" |