What is Statelessness?
International law holds that a person is deemed stateless if no state considers her or him to be a citizen under the “operation of its law”. That means a stateless person does not have a nationality. A stateless person does not have a legal identity and lives without basic human rights. The lived reality of statelessness, or not being a citizen of any country, is often described as a life in the shadows and without hope.
Statelessness affects an estimated 10 million people worldwide. Stateless people may be refugees, or they may not. They may have lost their citizenship when the country they were born in won, or lost, a war. Women sometimes lose their citizenship when they marry. Statelessness can occur in a myriad of ways. These include ethnic discrimination against minority groups in nationality legislation, birth registration laws, and conflicts of laws between states.
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.
A summary of statelessness and an introduction to Nubians in Kenya, Rohingya in Myanmar, and Dominicans of Haitian descent in Dominican Republic, prepared as part of a Pulitzer Center-sponsored project "Statelessness: A Human Rights Crisis" can be seen here.
International law holds that a person is deemed stateless if no state considers her or him to be a citizen under the “operation of its law”. That means a stateless person does not have a nationality. A stateless person does not have a legal identity and lives without basic human rights. The lived reality of statelessness, or not being a citizen of any country, is often described as a life in the shadows and without hope.
Statelessness affects an estimated 10 million people worldwide. Stateless people may be refugees, or they may not. They may have lost their citizenship when the country they were born in won, or lost, a war. Women sometimes lose their citizenship when they marry. Statelessness can occur in a myriad of ways. These include ethnic discrimination against minority groups in nationality legislation, birth registration laws, and conflicts of laws between states.
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.
A summary of statelessness and an introduction to Nubians in Kenya, Rohingya in Myanmar, and Dominicans of Haitian descent in Dominican Republic, prepared as part of a Pulitzer Center-sponsored project "Statelessness: A Human Rights Crisis" can be seen here.
Principles of Citizenship
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).
Recognition of Citizenship
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.
De jure Statelessness
De jure statelessness occurs when a person is recognized by no state as a citizen. Thus, state law prohibits recognition of citizenship. Some examples of how this can occur are:
- state succession: unions of countries or individual countries break apart, and the country where one reside's creates new nationality laws and suddenly does not recognize a person because of her lineage, ethnicity, or perceived allegiance to other countries;
- someone born into a disputed territory: parents who have a child in a disputed territory are unable to register the birth of their child, and the child remains without a nationality, stateless. This can happen because government is no longer functioning;
- women’s nationalities are sometimes stripped upon marriage to a foreigner, and they are unable to obtain the citizenship of their husbands;
- an individual renounces their citizenship without acquiring the citizenship of another country;
- aturalization laws: a child who is unable to acquire the nationality of her parents because of how her country of birth, and her parents' countries of citizenship apply the principles of jus soli and jus sanguinis.
De facto Statelessness
De facto statelessness occurs when a person is entitled to citizenship but this entitlement is not recognized under the application of state law. Some examples of how this can happen are:
- victims of trafficking often have their travel documents taken, leaving them unable to prove their identities;
- administrative and legislative hurdles that make it difficult, or virtually impossible to obtain identity documents or prove one’s identity.
