SAHNI ARTICLE 3.3.21 (WORD) (DO NOT DELETE)
Spring 2021
Loss of Nationality Rights
5/6/2021 7:21 PM
133
“Article 8 protects, inter alia, the right to establish and
develop relationships with other human beings and the
outside world and can sometimes embrace aspects of an
individual’s social identity. Thus, the totality of social ties
between a migrant and the community in which he or she
lives constitutes part of the concept of private life under
Article 8.”200
Deportation further disrupts a stateless candidate’s life. Its
“disproportionate repercussions” conflict with the aims of Article 8.201 It
should be emphasized that the applicants in Kaur and Hoti had entered their
Host States lawfully. Kaur and Hoti were rendered stateless later due to
political and legislative changes in those countries. These circumstances were
beyond the control of the Applicants; they were not foreseeable. Furthermore,
international law concedes that States have the autonomy to determine their
nationality laws.202 The Host States were not obligated, therefore, to grant
Kaur or Hoti permanent residences nor nationality. Similarly, a country where
a stateless individual enters illegally is not compelled to retain the person. Its
right to decide applies whether the individual enters wilfully (he has given
prior consent to travel and enters on his own behalf) or involuntarily (he is
accompanied, smuggled or trafficked by another party). For this reason, the
answer is negative to the following issues. Must a country grant nationality
to end an alien’s statelessness status? Alternatively, must a country not deport
the stateless person and permit him to reside lawfully?
In Al-Kateb v. Goldwin, the answer remains no, although the issue was
less straightforward as the stateless appellant was of Palestinian origin and
had previously resided in Kuwait legally.203 The applicant, Ahmed Ali AlKateb, had paid human traffickers U.S. $4,000 in Jordan to smuggle him into
Australia.204 He procured a fake Iraqi passport to travel from Jordan to
Indonesia from where he sailed to Australia in 2000.205 The seven-meter
fishing boat broke down at sea and was rescued by the Australian navy.206 For
unexplained reasons, the Appellant did not produce the passport to any State
authorities. He claimed that he did not have a passport or visa to enter the
200.
201.
202.
Id.
Id.
Alfred Verdross, The Plea of Domestic Jurisdiction before an International Tribunal
and a Political Organ of the United Nations, 28 HEIDELBERG J. OF INT’L LAW 39-40 (1968);
See also Maximilian Koessler, “SUBJECT,” “CITIZEN,” “NATIONAL,” AND
“PERMANENT ALLEGIANCE,” 56 YALE L.J. 58, 71-72 (1946) (discussing complications
resulting from nationality determined by domestic rather than international law).
203.
Al-Kateb v. Godwin (2004) 219 CLR (Austl.) the High Court of Australia heard the
case at the same time as Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs v.
Al Khafaji (2004) 208 ALR 201 (Austl.) and Behrooz v. Secretary of the Department of
Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs [2004] HCA 36 (Austl.)
204.
See Escape from a life in limbo, THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (Oct. 27, 2007),
https://www.smh.com.au/national/escape-from-a-life-in-limbo-20071027-gdrg3g.html.
205.
Id.
206.
Id.