82. The Committee notes the practice that details recorded in the birth registry may be more extensive than those provided on the certificate issued to parents and their children. In particular, details that may be prejudicial to the child or lead to stigmatization or discrimination may need to be omitted. 5.3 Right to acquire a nationality: Art 6 (3) and the obligation to prevent statelessness: Art 6 (4) 83. The right to a nationality has a central importance for the recognition and respect for other rights: thus the prevention of statelessness, including the statelessness of children, is a fundamental principle of international human rights law. The Committee of Experts has held that, “One of the main purposes of Article 6, in particular Article 6(4), of the African Children‟s Charter, is to prevent and/or reduce statelessness.” A person who is stateless is a person who is “not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law”: this definition, found in Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, has been recognised by the Committee of Experts to constitute part of customary international law.32 84. Even if the vast majority of human rights are not formally restricted on the basis of nationality, the lack of a recognised nationality in practice has a profoundly negative impact on respect for and fulfillment of other human rights. The effective proof of nationality (usually through documentation issued by the State) is a necessary foundation not only for the exercise of rights of civic and political participation, but also freedom of movement, participation in the formal economy, and the entitlement to mobilize the protection of the State of nationality when the enjoyment of human rights is endangered or threatened. The Committee of Experts notes that, although the African Charter on Human and Peoples‟ Rights does not specifically include a provision on the right to a nationality, the African Commission on Human and Peoples‟ Rights has considered issues touching on the right to a nationality in a large number of communications, underlining the challenges related 32 Kenyan Nubian Children’s case( note 8 above), paragraph 44. 30