Back Governments should act in best interest of stateless children

Commissioner for Human Rights
Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks

Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks

"Citizenship is the ‘right to have rights'. Without citizenship, one lacks not only political rights, but often social and economic rights as well. On a symbolic level, citizenship implies being a full member of a national community, and even further, of humanity", says Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, in his latest Human Rights Comment published today.

Hundreds of thousands of persons in Europe do not have citizenship of any state. Statelessness is not disappearing with time, but being transmitted over generations. Governments should act more vigorously to break this cycle by targeting measures to end statelessness, especially among children.

There should be no stateless children in Europe. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by every Council of Europe member state, provides that all children have a right to a nationality. The Convention's overarching principle is that "In all actions concerning children […] the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration." It is clearly in the best interest of the child to have citizenship from birth. (more...)

Strasbourg 15/01/2013
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