1. States Parties undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognized by law without unlawful interference. 2. Where a child is illegally deprived of some or all of the elements of his or her identity, States Parties shall provide appropriate assistance and protection, with a view to re-establishing speedily his or her identity. Thus, according to international standards, extending the loss or deprivation of nationality to a person’s dependents – such as their spouse or children – is prohibited. Deprivation of nationality should be a strictly individualised measure.4 However, the right to nationality is not solely derived from treaty law. The UN Special Rapporteur on the protection and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism (SRCT) has confirmed that the prohibition of the arbitrary deprivation of nationality constitutes customary international law, and this provision applies in all contexts.5 Hence, express limits are placed on states’ powers to deprive someone from their nationality, both through customary international law and treaty obligations.6 The International Law Commission has expressly affirmed that “although nationality is essentially governed by national legislation, the competence of States in this field may be exercised only within the limits of international law.”7 This was also highlighted by the UN Secretary-General, noting that the “loss or deprivation of nationality must meet certain conditions in order to comply with international law, in particular the prohibition of arbitrary deprivation of nationality.”8 To not be considered “arbitrary”, deprivation of nationality must therefore be in line with domestic law and comply with specific procedural and substantive standards of international human rights law, in particular the principle of proportionality.9 This means that even if the deprivation of nationality were to serve a legitimate purpose, proportionality still has to be respected. Thus, the consequences of any withdrawal of nationality must be carefully weighed against the Ibid, para. 24. Shamima Begum Third Party Intervention at the UK Court of Appeals, 29 May 2020, para. 15, https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Terrorism/SR/2020_05_29_FINAL_Begum _Intervention.pdf (accessed on 30 April 2024). 6 Communication from UN Special Procedures, OL ARE 6/2020, 13 November 2020, p.16, https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=25663 (accessed on 29 April 2024). 7 International Law Commission, “Draft Articles on Nationality of Natural Persons in relation to the Succession of States”, 1999, p.24, https://www.refworld.org/legal/otherinstr/ilc/1999/en/102081, (accessed on 30 April 2024). 8 Human Rights Council 25th session, Human Rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality: Report of the Secretary-General, UN Doc. A/HRC/13/34, 14 December 2009, para. 19, https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session25/Documents/AHRC-25-28_en.doc (accessed on 30 April 2024). 9 UN Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force, “Guidance to States on human rights-compliant responses to the threat posed by foreign fighters”, 2018, para. 40, https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/newyork/Documents/Human-Rights-Responses-to-ForeignFighters-web_final.pdf (accessed on 30 April 2024). 4 5 5 Citizenship stripping in the UAE