Table of Contents
1.
Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1
2.
Understanding and addressing statelessness ................................................................ 2
A.
The traditional international law approach ................................................................... 2
B.
The human rights-based approach ............................................................................. 8
3.
The elimination of statelessness as a fair outcome........................................................13
4.
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................17
1. Introduction
Statelessness has long been recognised as problematic under international law. Although the
issue remained overlooked for a long time and received little attention in international discourse
throughout most of the 20th century, early writers already acknowledged the detrimental
consequences of being stateless.1 As it is a nationality that establishes the relationship
between the State and an individual, individuals who are devoid of that link are prevented from
exercising the rights generally associated with citizenship. As such, statelessness affects all
areas of a person’s life. Stateless persons encounter difficulties in opening a bank account,
registering births, marriages, or deaths, finding employment, enjoying an education,
concluding contracts, and so forth.2 Nevertheless, it took a long time until the international
community tackled statelessness and its consequences, and in the first half of the 20th century
the issue was largely overlooked. Only after the two world wars, when thousands of Russians
and Jews were displaced and rendered stateless due to mass denationalisation campaigns,3
a global response to statelessness was taken. In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHR) laid down the right to a nationality, and the prohibition of arbitrary nationality
deprivation.4 In 1954, the Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954
Convention) was adopted, enshrining minimum rights for stateless persons.5 In 1961, another
convention was adopted, i.e. the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (1961
Convention), which aimed to prevent future cases of statelessness.6 Yet, accessions to these
See e.g. Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees ‘Statelessness and Some of Its Causes’ in Basic
Legal Documents (1947), 2.
2 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) ‘What is Statelessness?’ (2018), 2
<https://www.refworld.org/docid/5829c3514.html>.
3 Jane Perry Clark Carey, ‘Some Aspects of Statelessness Since World War I’ (1946) 40 The American
Political Science Review 113, 114; Asbjorn Eide, ‘Citizenship and the Minority Rights of Non-Citizens’
(15 April 1999) Working Paper UN Doc E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.5/1999/WP.3, para. 19.
4 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted 10 December 1948) UN Doc A/RES/217(III)A
(UDHR), art. 15.
5 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (adopted 28 September 1954, entered into
force 6 June 1960) 360 UNTS 117 (1954 Convention).
6 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (adopted 30 August 1961, entered into force 13
December 1975) 989 UNTS 175 (1961 Convention).
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