to any other nationality.” This principle must be interpreted in light of the obligation to
ensure the exercise of the rights to all persons subject to the State’s jurisdiction,
established in Article 1(1) of the Convention. Hence, a State must be certain that a child
born in its territory may truly acquire the nationality of another State immediately after
birth, 295 if he does not acquire the nationality of the State in whose territory he was born.
260. Taking the foregoing into account, the Court considers that Article 20(2) of the
American Convention should be interpreted in the sense established in Article 7 of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child (supra para. 258). 296 In the Case of the Yean and
Bosico Girls, the Court had the occasion to point out that “the condition of being born in
the territory of a State is the only one that needs to be proved in order to acquire
nationality, in the case of those who would not have the right to another nationality if they
did not acquire that of the State where they were born.” 297
261. Moreover, if the State cannot be certain that a child born in its territory can obtain
the nationality of another State, for example the nationality of a parent by ius sanguinis,
that State has the obligation to grant it nationality (ex lege, automatically), to avoid a
situation of statelessness at birth, pursuant to Article 20(2) of the American Convention.
This obligation also applies in the hypothesis that the parents cannot (owing to the
existence of facto obstacles) register their children in the State of their nationality. 298
C.1.2.Nationality and the principle of equality and non-discrimination
262. The Court has indicated that Article 1(1) of the American Convention, which
establishes the obligation of the States to respect and ensure the free and full exercise of
the rights and freedoms recognized therein “without any discrimination,” is a general
norm the content of which extends to all the provisions of this instrument. In other words,
whatsoever its origin or form, any treatment that can be considered discriminatory in
relation to the exercise of any of the rights ensured in the Convention is per se
incompatible with it. 299 In addition, Article 24 recognizes the right to equal protection of
295
Similarly, see United Nations, Human Rights Committee, General Comment 1, Article 24 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, para. 8; African Committee of Experts on the Rights and
Welfare of the Child, Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) and Open Society Justice
Initiative on Behalf of Children of Nubian Descent in Kenya v. Kenya, of March 22, 2011, para. 51 (the
Committee observed that the Government of Kenya had made no efforts to ensure that children of Nubian
descent acquired the nationality of another State, in this case Sudan); UNHCR Executive Committee, Guidelines
on Statelessness No. 4 of 21 December 2012, para. 25. The UNHCR Executive Committee only considered it
acceptable that States do “not grant nationality to children born in their territory if the child concerned can
acquire the nationality of a parent immediately after birth and the State of nationality of the parent does not
have discretion to refuse the grant of nationality.” It is recommended to “States that do not grant nationality in
such circumstances” that they “assist parents in initiating the relevant procedure with the authorities of their
State or States of nationality.”
296
Article 1 of the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, which the Dominican Republic adhered to on
December 5, 1961, stipulates that States must grant their nationality to a person born in their territory who
would otherwise be stateless. In addition, it establishes that the nationality must be granted “at birth, by
operation of law, or upon an application being lodged with the appropriate authority […] in the manner prescribed
by the national law.” In any case, based on the foregoing, the Court understands that the State, on ratifying the
American Convention on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the
Convention on the Rights of the Child, undertook to observe a regime that obliges States to guarantee, both
internally and in cooperation with other States, that a person has a nationality from the moment of his birth.
297
Cf. Case of the Yean and Bosico Girls v. Dominican Republic, para. 156.
298
UNHCR Executive Committee, Guidelines on Statelessness No. 4 of 21 December 2012, para. 26. This
must also be determined based on whether it can reasonably be expected that a person takes measures to
acquire nationality in the circumstances of his or her specific case. For example, the children of refugees, see
para. 27.
299
Cf. Proposed Amendments to the Naturalization Provisions of the Constitution of Costa Rica, OC-4/84,
para. 53; Case of the Afrodescendant Communities of the Cacarica River Basin (Operation Genesis) v. Colombia.
85
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