Conditions for regulating the weaponisation of citizenship Ramesh Ganohariti* In her opening contribution, Neha Jain puts forward the argument that International Law should have a place in regulating situations of oppressive nationality.92 She rightly identifies that the weaponisation of citizenship can be directed against individuals and/or other states. Given the guiding question, this contribution discusses under what conditions international law can and should restrict oppressive nationality attribution as a regulation in its own right. Drawing on my research on passportisation93 and the regulation of citizenship in Abkhazia and South Ossetia,94 I present three questions that must be answered if international law is to regulate the weaponisation of citizenship. Was the attribution conducted by a recognized state, and did it affect people outside its de iure territory? The previous contributors pointed out that forceful citizenship attribution can be in the form of extraterritorial nationality attribution (e.g. pre-2022 eastern Ukraine) or citizenship attribution to the population residing on the territory that is de facto but not de iure part of a state (e.g. post-2014 Crimea). Neither Ukraine95 nor the international community recognizes nationality attribution in either of these cases.96 Similarly, Georgia does not recognize Russian citizenships and passports conferred to individuals living in the “occupied territories” as this occupation violates international law, including Georgia’s territorial sovereignty.97 While not illegal under international law, these acts of passportisation have been condemned, and there is strong political motivation to regulate extraterritorial nationality attribution as it interferes with other states’ sovereignty and stability. Thus, there is a degree of acceptance that such attributions should be regulated. On the other hand, there are two instances where reprimanding citizenship weaponisation under international law would not be possible, or at the very least, very difficult. The first relates to nationality attribution within a state’s internationally recognized borders. States have the freedom to regulate nationality, including its attribution within their borders. However, some populations may oppose such attribution and consider it as oppressive imposition of nationality. One group, identified by Lindsey Kingston, is indigenous peoples in North America.98 The other group are citizens of aspirant states like Abkhazia and South Ossetia, who are entitled to the base state’s nationality, in their case, that of Georgia.99 However, the populations of these two aspirant states refuse to accept and recognize the “sticky” Georgian citizenship.100 Further, these individuals lack a “genuine link” with Georgia to morally justify the attribution. Moreover, Georgia’s enticement and co-option of the two populations to accept Georgian passports is critiqued by the aspirant states. The most cited example is the liberalization of the EU visa regime for Georgian nationals,101 which Georgia used as an incentive to encourage Abkhazians and South Ossetians to acquire Georgian citizenship. Residents of the two aspirant states also * Dublin City University 92 Jain 2022. 93 Ganohariti, R. (2021), ‘Politics of Passportization and Territorial Conflicts’, in Richmond O. and Visoka G. (eds.), The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies, Palgrave Macmillan. 94 Ganohariti, R. (2020), ‘Dual Citizenship in De Facto States: Comparative Case Study of Abkhazia and Transnistria,’ Nationalities Papers, 48(1), 175-192. 95 ‘Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on the provocative and unlawful decision by Kremlin to issue Russian passports to Ukrainian citizens in occupied territories’, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, 24 April 2019, Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on the provocative and unlawful decision by Kremlin to issue Russian passports to Ukrainian citizens in occupied territories | Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (mfa.gov.ua). 96 ‘Non-recognition of Russian travel documents issued in occupied foreign regions’, European Parliament, 2022/0274 (COD). 97 ‘Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia’, Vol. II, September 2009. 98 Kingston L. (2022), ‘When powerful states play games with citizenship’, GLOBALCIT, Weaponised Citizenship: Should international law restrict oppressive nationality attribution? - Page 4 of 12 - Globalcit (hereinafter ‘Kingston 2022’). 99 Organic Law of Georgia on Georgian Citizenship (2014) (Georgia). 100 Howard-Hassmann and Walton-Roberts 2015. 101 ‘Abkhazia denounces Tbilisi’s offer to enjoy visa free travel to Europe’, OC Media, 3 February 2017, Abkhazia denounces Tbilisi’s offer to enjoy visa free travel to Europe (oc-media.org). 19 Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies