A/HRC/7/23 page 10 on Civil and Political Rights affirms the right of every child to acquire a nationality. The International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination further binds States to guarantee this right in a non-discriminatory manner.7 At the regional level, this right is enunciated in the 1969 American Convention on Human Rights and the European Convention on Nationality.8 The right to a nationality has been further recognized in international and regional jurisprudence, including in the concluding observations of United Nations treaty bodies, notably the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Important rulings in this regard have also been made by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights.9 31. States must avoid rendering persons stateless and must protect the human rights of persons who are stateless. These obligations are codified and elaborated in the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. These conventions have, however, received very few ratifications.10 32. The two fundamental bases for granting citizenship are the notions jus solis (provision of citizenship granted to those born within the territory) and jus sanguinis (provision granted by descent). Many States apply some combination of the two, alongside complex rules regarding other means of obtaining citizenship, such as through naturalization and registration. States have The Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness mirrors the Convention on the Rights of the Child in providing in its first article that States shall grant nationality to all persons born on their territory who would otherwise be stateless. 7 See article 5 (d) (iii). See also article 9 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which ensures that this norm is applied equally to men and women. The right to a nationality is further recognized and regulated under the recently adopted Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 8 Article 20 (1) and (3) of the American Convention on Human Rights. The European Convention on Nationality reiterates these same principles under its article 4. Moreover, the 2006 European Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in relation to State succession will, once in force, be an important standard of protection, including in providing for the right to a nationality to all who had nationality at the time of State succession if residence and historic connection exists. 9 Although the 1950 European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms does not explicitly provide for a right to a nationality, the right has been protected on various instances by the European Court, which found, for example, that an arbitrary deprivation of citizenship may rise to the level of inhuman or degrading treatment and violate article 3 of the European Convention, or even violate the right to respect for private and family life guaranteed under article 8 of the Convention (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/23), para. 10. 10 Thirty-four and 62 ratifications respectively.