Comment on the 'Zhao' case: Can a ‘victory for human rights’ in the Netherlands benefit children at risk of statelessness in the Middle East and North Africa?

In 'Zhao v the Netherlands', the 'United Nations Human Rights Committee' ('HRC') addressed situations where a party to the 'International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights' ('ICCPR') failed to provide, in an expeditious manner, nationality determination for a child born on the territory. The HRC found that, in this context, the state's failure to make a timely determination of the child's nationality (or statelessness) violated the child's right to acquire a nationality under art 24(3) of the ICCPR. Put differently, to protect the best interests of the child, states must ensure that the period during which a child's nationality is undetermined, and for which the child's other rights are suspended on the basis of undetermined nationality, does not exceed five years. We read this interpretation of art 24(3) as a welcome acknowledgement of the formative nature of childhood. Indeed, the 'Zhao' decision has been qualified as a 'victory for human rights'. Still, the HRC's views in 'Zhao' only begin to acknowledge the costs of being trapped in an administrative apparatus that operates without regard for the timescale of human life.