SUB-REGIONAL OVERVIEW: SOUTH ASIA SUB-REGIONAL OVERVIEW: SOUTH ASIA born in India are only considered citizens by birth if both parents are citizens of India or if one parent is a citizen of India and the other is not an illegal migrant.229 Children born outside of India to at least one Indian parent are considered citizens by descent so long as their birth is registered, and they are not also considered a citizen of another country.230 Sri Lanka’s jus sanguinis provisions provide for automatic citizenship for children born in Sri Lanka to a Sri Lankan citizen parent.231 For children born outside of Sri Lanka to a citizen parent, their birth must be registered in order for their citizenship to be recognised.232 As such, for both countries while jus sanguinis is the predominant means of transferal of nationality, jus soli factors have some effect. can only be acquired through naturalisation with an additional condition that the child has to be born in Nepal.235 There is no equivalent provision for a national father and foreign mother. Bhutanese, Indian, Maldivian, Nepali, and Sri Lankan citizenship laws do not address access to citizenship for children of stateless parents. While there is no specific provision for access of citizenship for stateless children at birth in Afghanistan, under the citizenship laws of the country, stateless persons may obtain citizenship at the age of 18.236 In the case of Pakistan and Bangladesh, the jus soli provision, in theory, may mean that stateless children or children of stateless parents are entitled to citizenship. The Maldives’ jus sanguinis provisions provide automatic citizenship to a child born to a citizen of the Maldives regardless of their place of birth, as long as they identify as Muslim.233 While the 2015 Nepali Constitution provides that a person with permanent domicile in Nepal who is born to a Nepali father or mother shall have citizenship by descent, it further provides that when a child is born to a Nepali citizen mother, the child will only gain citizenship by descent when the father is not identified.234 Further, when a child is born to a citizen mother and a foreign father, citizenship Ratification of Relevant Treaties No South Asian state has ratified either Stateless Convention. Only one state (Afghanistan) is a contracting state to the Refugee Convention and its Protocol.237 However, there is a high rate of ratification of the key human rights treaties, with all eight states in the region party to the CRC and CEDAW and seven states (all states apart from Bhutan) to the ICCPR, ICESCR, and ICERD.238 There are no relevant reservations to note. Population Reported Stateless Population In 2021, states in South Asia reported 939,542 stateless persons to UNHCR representing an increase of over 50,000 persons in the last year.239 Bangladesh is the largest hosting country both within South Asia and the Asia Pacific broadly with a population of 918,841 stateless persons.240 Identifying stateless persons and persons at risk of statelessness is especially difficult in Afghanistan, Bhutan, and the Maldives where no stateless persons were reported. All other states (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) only provided statistics covering forcibly displaced (refugee) stateless populations, with no states providing figures on in situ stateless populations. UNHCR has noted that regarding Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka “UNHCR has information about stateless persons but no reliable data.”241 Known stateless populations not included in UNHCR reporting figures include the Lhostshampa of Bhutan242 and ethnic Bengalis and long-term Afghani refugees in Pakistan.243 Persons at Risk of Statelessness Millions of Afghans have fled Afghanistan due to wars and persecution in the country, with 2.7 million Afghani refugees globally at the end of 2021.244 Due to loss or denial of identity documents, the children of many Afghani refugees and asylum seekers are at risk of statelessness.245 Further, issues with accessing identity documentation have rendered potentially millions of women in Afghanistan at risk of statelessness. A 2016 study found that 52% of women in general held no identity documentation, with this rate increasing to 75% among female IDP’s.246 There are several different population groups in India at risk of statelessness including Tibetan and Sri Lankan refugees, ethnic minority groups living FIGURE 11 FIGURE 12 Reported Stateless Persons in Bangladesh Women in Afghanistan at Risk of Statelessness 2.7 million Afghani refugees globally at the end of 2021 1000000 TABLE 04 Ratification of International laws relating to statelessness by the countries in South Asia Country Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Srilanka ✅ ⛔ ⚠ Stateless 1 ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ Stateless 2 ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ Refugee Signifies that the country is a party to the convention Signifies that the country is not a party to the convention Signifies that the country is a party to the convention with certain reservations ✅ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ICCPR ✅ ✅ ⛔ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ICESCR ✅ ✅ ⛔ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ICERD ✅ ✅ ⛔ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ CRC ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ 800000 CEDAW ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ Stateless 1 - 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons Stateless 2 - 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness 600000 52% 75% 400000 200000 0 South Asia Bangladesh UNHCR, ‘Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2021’ (June 2022) No identity documentation Female IDP's Norwegian Refugee Council, ‘Access to Tazkera and other Civil Documentation’ (2016) 46 47 STATELESSNESS ENCYCLOPEDIA ASIA PACIFIC REPORT 2023