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substantial impairment of their fundamental rights, through acts or
omissions that do not yet constitute violations of national criminal laws
but of internationally recognized norms relating to human rights.14
In this light, victims are people who suffer injustices due to violations relating
to their physical integrity, emotional integrity, or their economic welfare, which
are not necessarily prohibited in, for instance, national criminal laws in their
state of residence. Article 19 of the Victim’s Declaration prescribes that states
should provide remedies to victims of abuses of power, such as restitution and/
or compensation, and necessary material, medical, psychological and social
assistance and support. How does this formulation link to statelessness?
From the outset, it is important to note again that statelessness is at odds
with human rights. The UDHR, and numerous international conventions, define
the right to nationality as fundamental.15 As such, states that have incorporated
clauses into their national laws that allow for revoking a person’s nationality are
operating in violation of international law. Furthermore, the reality of statelessness victimises people in a number of ways. Lacking ‘the right to have rights’ a
stateless person leads no socio-political existence. Where the stateless are
actively persecuted, they might face outright state-violence and segregation.
Statelessness separates families, limits freedom of movement, and denounces
the recognition of the core norm of human rights law: people are ends in themselves, worthy of dignity. Whether condoned or actively created, statelessness
appears as abuse of power par excellence, parodying the core of human rights,
and causing economic, social, political, and in some case physical harm to the
peoples subjected to it. As such, victimhood and vulnerability are the very
markers for defining the reality of statelessness, constituting an integral part of
the lives of all stateless people living in hostile state environments.
In this light it is striking that neither the statelessness Conventions, nor the
Conclusion on Identification, Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness and
Protection of Stateless Persons,16 at any point refer to ‘victims’ when listing the
conditions under which statelessness status applies.17 Why is it that the
14
15
16
17
UNGA, ‘Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of
Power’ (29 November 1985) UN Doc A/Res/40/34. Here we looked at the provision relevant
for the group of victims described in this contribution. For victims of crime see A(1,2).
For a comprehensive overview, see: A/HRC/13/34.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Conclusion on Identification, Prevention
and Reduction of Statelessness and Protection of Stateless Persons (6 October 2006) No 106
(LVII) http://www.refworld.org/docid/453497302.html accessed 22 October 2013.
UNHCR, ‘Introductory Note by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees’ in ‘Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees’,
tilburg law review 19 (2014) 285-293