A/HRC/31/29 no discrimination with regard to the acquisition of nationality between legitimate children and children born out of wedlock.8 According to article 2(2) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, States must also protect children against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions or beliefs of their parents, legal guardians or family members. The right of a child to acquire a nationality should therefore not be affected by the past opinions or activities of the child’s parents. 9 9. The principle of the best interests of the child, enshrined in article 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and recognized in many other international and regional human rights instruments, gives the child the right to have his or her best interests assessed and taken into account as a primary consideration in all actions or decisions that concern him or her, in both the public and the private spheres.10 This principle must be respected by States in legislative and administrative acts in the area of nationality, including in the implementation of safeguards for the avoidance of statelessness among children. As recalled by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child in its general comment on article 6 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, “being stateless as a child is generally an antithesis to the best interests of children”. Application of this principle implies, among other things, that a child must acquire a nationality at birth or as soon as possible after birth. 11 Children must not be left stateless for an extended period of time, 12 nor with their nationality status undetermined.13 B. Right to nationality for children who would otherwise be stateless 10. The primary purpose of protecting the right of every child to acquire a nationality is to prevent a child from being afforded less protection because he or she is stateless. 14 While States are not obliged, under international human rights law, to grant their nationality to every child born in their territory, they are required to adopt every appropriate measure, both internally and in cooperation with other States, to ensure that every child has a nationality when he or she is born.15 One such measure is the conferral of nationality to a child born on the territory of the State if the child would otherwise be stateless. Such a safeguard is central to the framework established in the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Regional instruments also recognize the special responsibility of States with regard to the realization of the right to acquire a nationality for children born on their territory.16 11. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has recommended that States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child grant nationality to all children born in their 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 4 See Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 17 (1989) and European Court of Human Rights, Genovese v. Malta, 11 October 2011. See CRC/C/15/Add.196, para. 29(d). Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 14 (2013). See Human Rights Committee general comment No. 17; CRC/C/CZE/CO/3-4; and UNHCR, Guidelines on Statelessness No. 4, para. 11. See African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, Nubian Minors v. Kenya, 22 March 2011; and UNHCR, Guidelines on Statelessness No. 4. European Court of Human Rights, Mennesson v. France, 26 June 2014. Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 17, para. 8. Ibid. See also Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 7(2). See the American Convention on Human Rights, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the Covenant on the Rights of the Child in Islam, the European Convention on Nationality and the Council of Europe Convention on the Avoidance of statelessness in relation to state succession.