interdependence and indivisibility of children‟s rights in general and the interdependence and indivisibility of the three rights provided for under Article 6 in particular. 4.1. Best interests of the children 14. The African Children‟s Charter provides in Article 4 (1) that the best interests of the child shall be the primary consideration in all actions concerning the child undertaken by any person or authority. 15. The Committee is of the view that the attribution and change of the name as well as the regulation thereof should always conform to the best interests of the child. Naming practices which are not conducive to the best interests of the child must be avoided. All laws, policies and programmes related to the improvement of the birth registration system as well as the acquisition of a nationality must also be in conformity with the best interests of the child. 4.2 Non-discrimination 16. Non-discrimination in the context of the rights to a name, birth registration and to acquire a nationality means that no child should be deprived of his/her right to a name, that no child‟s birth should go unregistered whatever his/her parents' or legal guardians' race, ethnic group, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national and social origin, fortune, birth or other status7 and that none of those grounds should justify a child‟s deprivation of his/her right to acquire a nationality under Article 6 of the Charter. The Committee underlines the fact that discrimination on whatever ground puts in peril the principle of universality of birth registration. Thus, discrimination on the basis of the marital status of the child‟s parents or on the basis of gender should not prevent the child from carrying the name of either or both his/her mother and father. The status of the child as having been adopted and other potentially discriminatory or stigmatizing information should 7 Article 3, African Children’s Charter. 7