Statelessness

Definition and overview

Statelessness refers to a condition in which a person “is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law.” According to the UN Refugee Agency, as of 2017, almost 3 million people worldwide are stateless. The majority of the stateless population are concentrated in Asia and the Pacific, with significant stateless populations also existing in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Statelessness is strongly tied to poverty, racism, conflict, and migration in that it is generally populations that have been historically marginalized that are most susceptible to statelessness, such as women, ethnic minorities, children and migrants. Those who held and continue to hold power have generally been afforded legal protections that have made statelessness an impossibility.

Historically and politically induced statelessness

Many of the world’s stateless populations were rendered stateless by discriminatory policies imposed by governments, or through general negligence. For example, roughly 300,000 Urdu-speaking Biharis were denied citizenship by the government of Bangladesh when the country gained independence in 1971. Over 600,000 people remain stateless after the dissolution Soviet Union in 1991. A 2013 court ruling in the Dominican Republic led to thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent losing their citizenship, while roughly 800,000 Rohingya in Myanmar have been refused nationality under a 1982 citizenship law. In each of these cases, induced statelessness has been a manifestation of institutional racism, further debilitating the already weak position of ethnic minorities who face prejudice in many other forms.

Migration and refugees

Statelessness is often a consequence and a cause of migration. Since stateless persons are unable to cross borders lawfully, cross-border migration occurs irregularly. Individuals in an irregular situation who cannot prove their nationality are highly susceptible to human rights violations, such as indefinite immigration detention or a prolonged lack of status, and may be unable to return to their original place of residence.

Statelessness triggers migration in two manners. First, it triggers migration due to the deprivation of rights in the country of origin. The lack of opportunity and prosperity in the country of origin may be complemented by the promise of such factors in the destination country, creating strong incentives for stateless persons to migrate. Second, statelessness prevents people from using regular migration channels. Since they do not hold any nationality, they cannot rely on the right to enter or remain in any country’s territory as citizens. The threat of expulsion and their lack of documentation leaves stateless people particularly vulnerable to all other forms of exploitation and victimization, as their status prevents them from seeking legal recourse.

Statelessness also arises as a consequence of irregular migration, as nationality laws between countries do not align perfectly and may leave gaps for those who lose citizenship from their originating country and do not gain it from their destination. This arises from the fact that some countries use jus soli rules, meaning that nationality is given on the basis of place of birth, while others rely on jus sanguinis rules, wherein nationality is solely conferred via parentage. Those who enter a country using unlawful means will not seek official documentation for fear of retribution and deportation.

In today's age, migrants are already subject to diminished human rights, social ostracism, forced separation, racism and violence. Female and LGBTQ+ migrants are particularly vulnerable, as are children and those with disabilities. Statelessness intersects with migration to worsen the already weak position of many migrants.

Children

Discriminatory and patriarchal nationality laws that do not grant women equality with men in conferring nationality to their children are a driving cause of statelessness in the world. Children account for over a third of the world’s stateless population. If women are unable to grant nationality to their children, as is the case in Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Somalia, Swaziland and others as well, newborn children may find themselves stateless if the father:

• is stateless;
• is not permitted to confer nationality (for example if the child is born abroad);
• is unknown or not married to the mother;
• is unable to fulfill administrative steps to confer nationality (due to death, lack of documentation or forcible separation, for example); or
• is unwilling to fulfill administrative steps to confer nationality.

If a child does not secure a nationality at birth, they may be left stateless for years, or even a lifetime. Without the protections given to citizens, a child may suffer from reduced – if any – access to education, healthcare and social assistance. This not only harms the child in their youth, but creates a significant damper on the child’s future opportunities.

Unlike refugees, stateless children tend to not receive international recognition or aid, and furthermore lack the option of returning to a country of origin. Unable to obtain passports and travel freely, many are forced to resort to illegitimate modes of international travel, exposing them to a significant threat of being taken for human sex trafficking. Unable to advocate for themselves as well, the intersection between statelessness and childhood leaves them as some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

International legislation and potential solutions

Numerous legal agreements have been created to mitigate the status and treatment of stateless persons, including the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Together, these documents provide a formal definition of statelessness and created international rules for the attribution of nationality. However, only 63 states are party to the 1954 Convention, and only 35 to the 1961 Convention, rendering efforts ineffective in many regimes.

Furthermore, The Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was universally ratified by European countries, obliges governments to fulfil the right of every child to acquire a nationality. Other legal instruments such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and many international and regional human rights treaties uphold the right of each person to a nationality.

To resolve the issue more effectively, calls have been made to "move beyond a State-centric understanding of the right to nationality", instead understanding nationality as a human right that represents a meaningful connection between a person and a State, in addition to better exploring the connotations of belonging in society and disassociating them from ethnicity and race.