A Study of Statelessness in South Sudan - 2017 and/or father or any grandparent have been permanently residing in Southern Sudan as of January 1, 1956”.7 Ultimately, the 2011 referendum revealed overwhelming support for independence on behalf of registered voters, and South Sudan became the world’s newest country. The Nationality Act8 and the Nationality Regulations9 , both adopted in 2011, set the criteria and procedures for acquiring nationality and obtaining nationality documents for the new nation, drawing upon elements of the Interim Constitution to define a South Sudanese national. In parallel, the Khartoum government amended its Sudanese Nationality Act to strip any individual qualifying for South Sudanese nationality of their Sudanese nationality. Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) provides that “(1) everyone has the right to a nationality” and “(2) no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality”.10 According to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, a “stateless person” is a person “who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law” – a definition accepted as customary international law, regardless of accession to the Conventions.11 In the South Sudanese context, the risk of statelessness is high due to legislative ambiguities contained in the Nationality Act and Regulations (referred to as nationality legalisation), challenges related to interpretation and implementation of this legislation as a result of limited capacity, knowledge and harmonized procedures on behalf of the DNPI, a general lack of civil status registration including birth registration and subsequent issuance of birth certificates, and other contextual challenges such as the internal armed conflict and financial crisis which undermine access to nationality documentation. UNHCR plays a leading role in the eradication to statelessness globally and has been involved in both Sudan and South Sudan in various capacities to ensure access to nationality and documentary proofs of nationality for persons residing in the territory of these countries. In order to reduce the risk of statelessness in South Sudan, UNHCR has been working closely with the DNPI through training and capacity building, raising community-level awareness on importance of obtaining a nationality certificate, and supporting/facilitating access of vulnerable internally displaced persons to the procedure for the acquisition of nationality certificates. 1.2 Aims of Assessment UNHCR commissioned this comprehensive study to support its efforts to ensure access to South Sudanese nationality documentation by persons of South Sudanese origin at risk of statelessness. According to the Terms of Reference, the study aims to collect and analyse current and reliable data in order to: i. Analyse major causes as well as legislative and procedural barriers that may lead to statelessness; ii. Assess the accessibility of nationality documentation by population groups, in particular those residing in border areas of Northern and Western Bahr el-Ghazal, Jonglei, Warrap, Lakes and Central Equatoria States;12 iii. Assess whether the nationality documentation application procedures are applied equally and in a non-discriminatory manner to various groups of population, irrespective of their ethnicity, tribes, social or political background, age, places of origin, gender, and other individual characteristics; iv. Provide recommendations to UNHCR on mechanisms for identifying and providing assistance to persons at risk of Article 9 (3) (b) Interim Constitution of Southern Sudan (2005), see http://www.chr.up.ac.za/undp/domestic/docs/c_SouthernSudan.pdf The Nationality Act, 2011 [South Sudan], 7 July 2011, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4e94318f2.html 9 Nationality Regulations 2011 [South Sudan], 29 December 2011, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4ffab4582.html 10 Article 15, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), see https://www.un.org/en/udhrbook/pdf/udhr_booklet_en_web.pdf 11 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954), see http://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/wp-content/uploads/1954-Convention-relatingto-the-Status-of-Stateless-Persons_ENG.pdf 12 Due to accessibility and security constraints in the context of escalating internal armed conflict, the field study was limited to Aweil, Renk and Nimule, as discussed in the methodology. 7 8 11