CHILDREN AT RISK OF STATELESSNESS IN THE FIGHT
AGAINST TERRORISM
LAVINIA SPIEß* AND LOUISE PYNE-JONES
The departure of ‘foreign terrorist fighters’ (‘FTFs’) to join terrorist groups in armed conflicts
abroad has led many countries to adopt a policy of citizenship deprivation. This paper
demonstrates that citizenship deprivation measures do not have the desired effect for national
security, while increasing the risk of statelessness for the children of FTFs. Citizenship deprivation
laws in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, France, the Netherlands and
the UK are discussed, in order to view them against international obligations. It concludes that
citizenship deprivation measures aimed at FTFs are primarily problematic regarding the
prohibition of arbitrary citizenship deprivation, the principle of non-discrimination and relevant
children’s rights.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ........................................................................................................ 34
Citizenship Stripping as a Counter-Terrorism Measure ........................................ 37
A National Laws on Deprivation of Citizenship........................................... 37
1
Discretionary Ministerial Powers of Deprivation.......................... 38
2
Deprivation Ex Officio ................................................................ 41
3
Judicial Involvement Required..................................................... 42
4
Comparative Analysis.................................................................. 43
B Why Citizenship Deprivation is Not Working .......................................... 45
Impact of Citizenship Stripping on Children ........................................................ 48
A Statelessness............................................................................................ 48
B Limited Access to Human Rights............................................................. 51
C Case Studies ............................................................................................ 52
Citizenship Stripping under International Human Rights Law .............................. 54
A Right to Nationality and Prohibition of Statelessness ............................... 54
B Arbitrary Deprivation of Citizenship........................................................ 57
C Children’s Rights .................................................................................... 60
D Non-Discrimination................................................................................. 61
E Recommendations ................................................................................... 62
Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 64
*
Lavinia Spieß is a legal researcher based in London. She holds an LLM in Human Rights Law
from Queen Mary University of London and has graduated with distinction from the Diploma
Programme in Law at the Karl-Franzens University of Graz, where she specialised in
International Law.
Louise Pyne-Jones is a PhD candidate at SOAS University of London. Her research looks at
the nexus of race, religion, power and resistance. She has wide-ranging experience managing
research and projects in international NGOs and think-tanks and has written and published a
number of articles including as a contributor to T G Fraser (ed), The First World War and Its
Aftermath: The Shaping of the Middle East (Gingko Library 2015).