2019
Statelessness & Citizenship Review
1(1)
remove gender discrimination from nationality laws, policies and procedures. 95 It
is working with UN Women, UNICEF, Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights (‘OHCHR’) and civil society members of the
Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights to promote legislative and
constitutional reform, engage in strategic litigation and build capacity of legal
professionals and the justice sector. 96 The Global Campaign for Equal Nationality
Rights is comprised of local, regional and international NGOs, academics, civil
society organisations, the aforementioned UN agencies and some likeminded
governments. 97 Launched in 2014, it mobilises action through national and global
advocacy, research and knowledge sharing. 98 The campaign highlights gender
discrimination in nationality laws as one of the primary causes of statelessness,
such as when children cannot acquire their parents’ nationality, or when a woman
loses her nationality upon marriage to a foreigner. 99 Importantly, it also frames the
issue as a violation of women’s rights, a factor contributing to gender-based
violence, a cause of psychological distress and a hindrance to the achievement of
the Sustainable Development Goals (‘SDGs’). 100
INSTITUTE ON STATELESSNESS AND INCLUSION’S HUMAN RIGHTS-BASED
APPROACH
The emerging epistemic community convened by the ISI considers statelessness
primarily from a lens of human rights. 101 Building on the work of the former
Statelessness Program at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, the ISI has
brought together academics and practitioners working on statelessness around the
world to strategically contribute to the emerging global movement. 102 According
to its website, the ISI’s founders
felt that ongoing efforts to give stateless persons a greater voice and more agency
to influence this growing movement could be further strengthened. They also noted
the clear need for an organisation that could help to bridge the divide between
academic research, policy development and practice; and that could, through
engagement with the arts, raise the profile of and provoke thought on the issue
among a wider audience. The founders also felt that there was a need for greater
dialogue, partnership and cross-fertilisation between the field of statelessness and
those focusing on other forms of disenfranchisement; and that work on statelessness
must be multidisciplinary, though underpinned by the international human rights
framework. 103
In line with this vision, ISI’s working strategies include: research and academic
engagement; networking and partnerships; empowerment; advocacy; information
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
ibid 13.
ibid.
‘About Us’ (n 70).
ibid.
Global
Campaign
for
Equal
Nationality
Rights,
‘The
Problem’
<https://equalnationalityrights.org/the-issue/the-problem>.
ibid.
Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, ‘Statelessness and Human Rights’
<http://www.statelessnessandhumanrights.org/> (‘Statelessness and Human Rights’).
Institute
on
Statelessness
and
Inclusion,
‘History’
<http://www.institutesi.org/about/history.php>.
ibid.
148