Dozen Countries: Countries Grant

dozen countries: Only 34 countries grant the automatic acquisition of citizenship through birthplace regardless of parents' nationality or status, according to National Observer. This practice is not consistent and uniform enough to ground a rule of customary international law. Canada is one of fewer than three dozen countries that follow the practice of citizenship based on birthplace and some including Australia and Britain have modified or ended automatic birthright in recent years, the government says in a case that will determine whether the Toronto-born sons of Russian spies are Canadian citizens. ; Indeed, no European countries, for example, grant an unqualified automatic citizenship by birth and they have no obligation to do so, the federal submission says. The federal Liberals adopted a decidedly different tone recently after the Conservatives passed a policy resolution calling on the government to enact legislation to end birthright citizenship unless one of the parents of the child born in Canada is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada. Refugee and human rights advocates have objected, saying there is no evidence of a birth tourism problem to solve and that the Conservative policy would open the door to stateless children being born in Canada. Conservative Leader Andrew says one of the goals is to end the practice of women coming to Canada simply to give birth to a child that will automatically attain Canadian citizenship. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.