apply for citizenship. 68 No official data has been provided, however, concerning the number of stateless persons who were naturalised nor has the Government given any information about the “impact of the lack of nationality on [stateless persons’] ability to access health care, education, employment and State-provided services, without discrimination.”69 43. The UAE has never acknowledged the status of the Comoros passport holders or the scheme undertaken by the Government to secure the passports. Media reports indicate that these passports do not entitle their holders to full Comorian citizenship or to residence in Comoros.70 44. Gradually, the holders of Comoros passports have been transformed from de-facto Emiratis with limited identity documentation to “economic citizens” of Comoros treated by Emirati authorities like any other group of expatriate workers in the UAE.71 This reclassification has caused significant hardship, such as difficulties with timely renewals of the passports, loss of livelihood and limited access to healthcare and education. 72 In 2018, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) restricted the travel of Emirati residents with Comoros passports because of a determination that holders of these passports do not enjoy a right to reside in or return to the Union of the Comoros.73 In light of the above, it is reasonable to conclude that holders of Comorian passports from the UAE remain just as stateless as they were before the UAE’s 2008 registration campaign. A process through which stateless holders of Comorian passports can apply for Emirati nationality, if such exists, has never been made public. Issue IV – Human Rights Violations Faced by Stateless People 45. Being denied the right to acquire a nationality at birth due to discrimination or being arbitrarily deprived of nationality are both egregious violations of human rights law, including the right to a nationality, non-discrimination, equality before the law and due process. Additionally, lack of nationality can lead to other significant violations of human rights. The Emirates have also stated that those who have been deprived of their nationality may be at risk of arrest for being illegally resident in the country.74 A stateless individual may not be able to instruct a lawyer, own property, have access to health and social services and they may have difficulties accessing education at schools and universities. Being stateless in the UAE may mean that an individual is denied their freedom of movement, but may also lead to deportation, despite there being no country of nationality to remove such persons to.75 68 CERD, ‘Concluding Observations on the Combined Eighteenth to Twenty-First Periodic reports of the United Arab Emirates’, CERD/C/ARE/CO/18-21, (13 September 2017), paras 27-28, available at: https://documents-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G17/266/53/PDF/G1726653.pdf?OpenElement. 69 Ibid. 70 F. Mukinda, ‘Meet “stateless” man who has been stranded at JKIA for four months’, Nairobi News, (6 April 2018), available at: https://nairobinews.nation.co.ke/life/stateless-man-stranded-jkia. 71 N. Jain, Manufacturing Statelessness, American Journal of International Law 116, no. 2 (April 2022): 237–88. 72 Co-submitters have official reports from affected people on this issue. 73 A US DHS determination to this effect was made available to and is on file with the authors. 74 ICFAUE, ‘Revocation of nationalities in the United Arab Emirates’, (26 January 2017), available at: https://www.icfuae.org.uk/research-and-publications/revocation-nationalities-united-arab-emirates. 75 F. Mukinda, ‘Meet “stateless” man who has been stranded at JKIA for four months’, Nairobi News, (6 April 2018), available at: https://nairobinews.nation.co.ke/life/stateless-man-stranded-jkia (reporting on the deportation of a Comoros passport holder who was removed from the UAE but not accepted in the Union of Comoros upon landing there). 11