What Is Statelessness?
People are stateless when they are “not considered a national by any State under the operation of its law” (Article 1(1), 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons). In other words, a stateless person does not have a nationality or citizenship in any country around the world. Without formal citizenship, stateless people do not have protection and access to fundamental rights and essential services, as someone with a nationality would. For example, stateless people may lack access to healthcare, housing, employment, education, and social welfare. Existing within this limbo means that they are often excluded from having a bank account, owning property, travel, and cannot participate in politics. Without a nationality, stateless people often face marginalization, exclusion, and instability.
According to Article 15 of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone has a right to a nationality” and “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality”. Yet still, over 15 million people are considered stateless around the world today.
Who is Stateless?
Some people are stateless at birth or become stateless later in life. For instance, people are often born stateless because of gender discrimination. In over 25 countries, mothers cannot pass their citizenship onto their children, meaning children whose fathers are missing, deceased - or stateless themselves remain - without a nationality. Many people become stateless because a state refuses to recognize minority groups. Gaps in nationality laws can also account for statelessness, for example, when states do not account for children born in a third country where neither of their parents holds citizenship. The redrawing of borders or dissolution/emergence of states can also lead to a lack of recognition of nationality, and consequently, statelessness.
The term ‘stateless’ is often confused with displacement, but they are different terms. While some refugees are also stateless, this is not always the case. Many refugees have a recognized nationality, and many stateless people live in the place they were born and consider to be their homes.
The term ‘stateless’ is often confused with displacement, but they are different terms. While some refugees are also stateless, this is not always the case. Many refugees have a recognized nationality, and many stateless people live in the place they were born and consider to be their homes.
Children
Nationality laws that dictate citizenship rules for their parents affect children. The result is that children are born limited in the services they can access, the education they will receive, and the healthcare available to them. This carries on through adulthood and affects housing, employment and virtually all aspects of their lives. An emerging concern is the practice of international surrogacy and the effects on children. Legal challenges are increasing as children are born in one country and adopted in another. |
Women
Many women find themselves victims of gender-based-violence and exploited into global trafficking rings, where they may endure abuse, have their identification documents confiscated, and with little societal or legal support. Furthermore, nationality law is often discriminatory along gender lines, leaving women unable to either retain their citizenship upon marriage to a foreigner, or acquire the citizenship of their husband's country. |
Ethnic Discrimination
Minority ethnic groups are particularly vulnerable to statelessness, often discriminated against as a result of nationality legislation. In addition many minority ethnic groups around the world struggle to obtain identity documents or prove their identities. Some examples are the Roma of Europe, Rohingya of Myanmar, ethnic Nepali Bhutanese of Nepal, and Haitian descendants in Dominican Republic. |
Disputed Territory
Parents who have a child in a disputed territory are often unable to register the birth of their child, and the child remains without a nationality. This can happen because government is no longer functioning, or the political entity is not recognised as a state by the international community. The most widely known example of this type of statelessness is the case of the Palestinians. |
State Succession
Unions of countries or individual countries break apart, and the country where one resides creates new nationality laws and suddenly does not recognize a person because of her lineage, ethnicity, or perceived allegiance to other countries. Prominent examples are the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, and Yugoslavia in 1992. |
Technical Causes
Technical causes of statelessness include an individual renouncing their citizenship and not acquiring another; a state revoking an individual's citizenship (denationalisation); or when nationality cannot be acquired due to a failure to register the birth of a child. |
Statelessness and citizenship are based on nationality law. Countries award citizenship based on the principles of jus soli and jus sanguinis. Jus soli (right of the soil) is the principle that territory governs citizenship: anyone born in a country is awarded citizenship of that country. The principle of jus sanguinis (right of blood) is the principle that lineage governs citizenship: citizenship is awarded if one or more parents are citizens of that country.
This seems simple enough, but it is complex. If someone is born in Country A whose parents are born in Country B, and Country A awards citizenship based on jus sanguinis, and Country B awards citizenship based on jus soli, than she is without a nationality, stateless. This child cannot obtain citizenship from Country A because her parents weren't born there (even though she was), nor can she obtain citizenship from Country B because she wasn't born there (even though her parents were).
In addition to principles of citizenship, another important element is recognition of citizenship. Statelessness is manifested in two ways: de jure statelessness, when no state law recognizes the person as a citizen, and secondly, de facto statelessness, when the person is entitled to citizenship, but is not recognized as such under the application of state law.
International Principles concerning Statelessness and Nationality
How statelessness is addressed nationally is guided by principles in international law. Article 15 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states “everyone has the right to a nationality”. The United Nations has produced two Conventions on statelessness, the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. These Conventions stipulate the rights and responsibilities of stateless peoples and the states in which they reside. There are several international instruments that stipulate rights related to nationality and statelessness, the most prominent of which can be accessed here.
How statelessness is addressed nationally is guided by principles in international law. Article 15 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states “everyone has the right to a nationality”. The United Nations has produced two Conventions on statelessness, the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. These Conventions stipulate the rights and responsibilities of stateless peoples and the states in which they reside. There are several international instruments that stipulate rights related to nationality and statelessness, the most prominent of which can be accessed here.