AHMR African Human Mobilty Review - Volume 8 No 3, SEP-DEC 2022 II. CRITICAL DEBATES ON STATELESSNESS: FRAMEWORKS AND CAMPAIGN FOR THE RIGHTS TO A NATIONALITY, AND SOCIOECONOMIC INCLUSION Statelessness as a concern for human rights and development is a truism that is poorly understood. This is due to inadequate publication, teaching, and research on its causes and ramifying effects. Critical debates on statelessness and development reflect on the SDGs; however, the purpose to relieve or alleviate the vulnerabilities of stateless persons predates the SDGs. Institutional reports reflect on the impact of relevant international standards, treaties, and conventions concluded through international and regional human rights obligations. The UDHR, a milestone international document adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on 10 December 1948, enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Its article 15 explicitly provides the foremost guarantee to all: ‘Everyone has the right to a nationality. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality’.17 Recognising the UDHR’s guarantee on the right to a nationality, legal provision among state parties concerning the prevention of statelessness was further elaborated in two important international conventions — the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. These conventions represent a landmark in the historical development of international law for the protection of stateless persons.18 Promoting the dignity and human security of the stateless and vulnerable groups brings statelessness into the human rights regime. The 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the 1990 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), among others, reflect states’ obligations relating to acquisition and loss of nationality and the protection of vulnerable groups.19 However, these conventions’ emphasis on the prevention and reduction of statelessness is undermined by the lack of procedures for the determination of statelessness, amid persistent gaps and discrimination in nationality laws. To bridge this gap, the 1986 Declaration on the Right to Development, recognises the universal freedom to ‘participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights can be fully realised’.20 Statelessness has taken a centre stage in official policy discourse at the United Nations (UN); this is explicitly connected to the campaigns to regularise migration, identity and nationality, and policies on non-discrimination.21 International campaigns, particularly by international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and monitoring bodies, vigorously influence the profile of de jure and de facto UDHR op cit note 9. Alice Edwards & Laura van Waas 'Statelessness' in Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh Gil Loescher Katy Long and Nando Sigona (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (2014) 290–301. 19 UNDG op cit note 6 at 2. 20 Blitz op cit note 2. 21 UNHCR op cit note 11. 17 18 60