1954 Convention
1961 Convention
Establishes minimum
standards of treatment for
stateless people in respect to
a number of rights. These
include, but are not limited to,
the right to education,
employment and housing.
Importantly, the 1954
Convention also guarantees
stateless people a right to
identity, travel documents and
administrative assistance.
Establishes an international
framework to ensure the
right of every person to a
nationality. It requires that
states establish safeguards in
their nationality laws to
prevent statelessness at birth
and later in life. Establishes
that children are to acquire
the nationality of the country
in which they are born if they
do not acquire any other
nationality.
International
Standards and
Mechanisms
SA has not acceded to either UN Statelessness Conventions but is bound by other
international and regional human rights instruments that protect the right to a nationality, in
addition to the Constitution which guarantees that every child has the right to a name and
nationality (s28) and that no citizen may be deprived of citizenship (s20).