A/HRC/15/29 13. The Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness of 1961 requires States to grant nationality to any person born on their territory if this person would otherwise be stateless (art. 1) and prohibits States from depriving persons of their nationality if such deprivation would render them stateless (art. 8).14 14. United Nations treaty bodies, as committees of independent experts that monitor the implementation of the core international human rights treaties, have provided authoritative guidance on the situation of children in the context of migration in the form of general comments, including general comment No. 6 on the treatment of unaccompanied and separated children outside their country of origin of the Committee on the Rights of the Child.15 15. The special procedures mechanisms of the Human Rights Council have also addressed relevant issues within their thematic and country-specific mandates.16 Of particular importance is the work of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, who has recently issued a report on the situation of children in the context of migration (A/HRC/11/7). 16. Also relevant to the situation of children in the context of migration are the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. 17. At the regional level, the following instruments, among others, provide protection of the rights of the child in the context of migration: the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms; the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union; the American Convention on Human Rights; and the Inter-American Convention on International Traffic in Minors. III. The Convention on the Rights of the Child: General principles and definitions 18. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely ratified international human rights treaty, with 193 States parties. It contains a comprehensive set of legally binding international standards, and elaborates on many of the general provisions contained in earlier instruments with specific reference to the rights of the child. The Convention applies to every child, regardless of categorization, or of his or her nationality or immigration status. This Convention is thus a key standard of protection for all children in the context of migration. 19. The Convention is supplemented by two Optional Protocols: the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict. Both these instruments provide protection to children in the context of migration. 14 15 16 6 See also the provisions of the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. On the work of the treaty bodies and reference to other relevant general comments, see www.ohchr.org. See also www.hrcam.org, a database created by UNICEF and the National University of Lanús, which compiles excerpts from concluding observations related to children, human rights and migration (2000–2009). See http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/chr/special/index.htm for information on the work of the special procedures of the Human Rights Council.