BETTER MUST COME: CITIZENSHIP AND BELONGING
AFTER STATELESSNESS
PATRICK BALAZO *
In light of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee’s global #IBELONG Campaign to
end statelessness by 2024, this paper examines the benefits of citizenship acquisition among Sri
Lanka’s previously stateless Up-Country Tamil population. From 1948 until 2003, the Up-Country
Tamil population was stateless and excluded from the Sri Lankan political process, though with
the 2003 grant of citizenship Sri Lanka was celebrated as an example of what it means to
successfully end statelessness. Using a liberal theory of citizenship extended by the Rancièrian
concept of dissensus, and based on qualitative interviews and questionnaire surveys conducted in
Sri Lanka between July and August 2016, this paper identifies potential shortcomings of citizenship
acquisition that clash with the promise of the #IBELONG Campaign and the narrative of Sri
Lanka’s success in ending statelessness: a rural rights deficit and a shared absence of belonging
despite the acquisition of citizenship.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction............................................................................................................... 6
A Conceptual Framework ................................................................................ 7
B The UNHCR #IBELONG Campaign .......................................................... 10
C Methods ...................................................................................................... 12
The Up-Country Tamils and Sri Lanka — A Historical Overview ........................ 13
A The Colonial Period .................................................................................... 13
B After Independence .................................................................................... 16
Findings and Analysis ............................................................................................. 17
A Four Human Rights: Healthcare, Education, Employment and Political
Participation................................................................................................ 17
1
Healthcare ...................................................................................... 19
2
Education........................................................................................ 20
3
Employment ................................................................................... 22
4
Political Participation ..................................................................... 23
5
Belonging ....................................................................................... 25
Discussion ............................................................................................................... 28
A Discussion .................................................................................................. 29
1
The Rural Rights Deficit ................................................................ 29
2
Belonging in Place ......................................................................... 30
3
De Facto Citizenship ...................................................................... 31
4
Seeking Dissensus .......................................................................... 32
Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 34
Appendix A ............................................................................................................. 38
A Questionnaire Survey ................................................................................. 38
Appendix B ............................................................................................................. 39
A Interview Guide .......................................................................................... 39
*
Patrick Balazo is a Killam Scholar, recipient of the Canada Graduate Scholarship to Honour
Nelson Mandela, and holds a Master of Arts in International Development Studies from
Dalhousie University. An early career professional, Patrick has previously worked with the
Canadian Centre on Statelessness and the Statelessness Network Asia Pacific. He can be
reached at Patrick.Balazo@Dal.ca.