82 Global Recommendations on Nationality and Statelessness in the Context of Climate Change Global Recommendations on Nationality and Statelessness in the Context of Climate Change END NOTES END NOTES END NOTES 1 Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme, Conclusion No 106 (LVII): Identification, Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness and Protection of Stateless Persons, UN Doc A/AC.96/1035 (6 October 2006). 2  Universal Declaration of Human Rights, GA Res 217A (III), UN Doc A/810 (10 December 1948) art 15 (‘UDHR’). 3 Article 1 of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons defines a stateless person as someone who is ‘not recognized as a national by any State under the operation of its law.’ This definition has attained the status of customary international law, which means it applies to all States, not just those that are party to the 1954 Convention. Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, opened for signature 28 September 1954, 360 UNTS 117 (entered into force 6 June 1960) article 1 (‘1954 Statelessness Convention’); UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons (Report, 2014) 7 (‘UNHCR Handbook’). 4 Based on the latest figures reported by States, UNHCR reports 4.5 million stateless persons globally. However, this is a significant underestimate, with the true number projected to be many millions more. UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2025 (Report, 2025) (‘Global Trends 2025’). 5 Even if in theory, human rights are to be enjoyed by virtue of being human, see Human Rights Committee (HRC), General Comment No 31 (2004): The Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States Parties to the Covenant, UN Doc CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.13 (26 May 2004) [80]. 6 UNHCR, ‘Stateless People’, UNHCR Australia (Web Page, 2025) <https://www.unhcr.org/au/about-unhcr/who-we-protect/stateless-people>. 7 UNHCR, Global Action Plan to End Statelessness 2.0, 2 October 2024 (‘Global Action Plan’). 8 Global Alliance to End Statelessness (Web Page) <https://statelessnessalliance.org>. 9  1954 Statelessness Convention (n 3); Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, opened for signature 30 August 1961, 989 UNTS 175 (entered into force 13 December 1975) (‘1961 Statelessness Convention’). 10 It should be noted that the right to a nationality is not among the rights to be granted to those who are stateless under the 1954 Convention. Other international instruments promote the right to a nationality — see Section 5: Guiding Principles. 11 International human rights instruments which uphold the right to a nationality, including the prohibition on the arbitrary deprivation of nationality, include UDHR (n 2) art 15; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, opened for signature 19 December 1966, 999 UNTS 171 (entered into force 23 March 1976) art 24 (‘ICCPR’); Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, opened for signature 18 December 1979, 1249 UNTS 13 (entered into force 3 September 1981) art 9 (‘CEDAW’); Convention on the Rights of the Child, opened for signature 20 November 1989, 1577 UNTS 3 (entered into force 2 September 1990) art 7 (‘CRC’); International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, opened for signature 7 March 1966, 660 UNTS 195 (entered into force 4 January 1969) art 5 (‘ICERD’); Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, opened for signature 13 December 2006, 2515 UNTS 3 (entered into force 3 May 2008) art 18 (‘CRPD’); International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, opened for signature 18 December 1990, 2220 UNTS 3 (entered into force 1 July 2003) art 29 (‘CPRMW’). In both Europe and Africa specific instruments have been drafted to cover the right to nationality: the European Convention on Nationality, opened for signature 6 November 1997, ETS No 166 (entered into force 1 March 2000); and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights Relating to the Specific Aspects of the Right to a Nationality and the Eradication of Statelessness in Africa, signed 18 February 2024. 12 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (‘UNFCCC’), Adoption of Paris Agreement (29 January 2016) UN Doc FCCC/CP/2015/10/Add.1; Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, GA Res 69/283, UN Doc A/RES/69/283 (23 June 2015, adopted 3 June 2015); Global Compact on Refugees (‘GCR’) GA Res 73/151, UN Doc A/ RES/73/151 (10 January 2019, adopted 17 December 2018); Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, GA Res 73/195, UN Doc A/RES/73/195 (11 January 2019, adopted 19 December 2018) (‘GCM’), [18] (i). 13 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (‘IPCC’), Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report — Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Report, IPCC, 2023) 1–34. 14 Ibid. 15 See, for example, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), Technical Guidance on Comprehensive Risk Assessment and Planning in the Context of Climate Change (Report, 2022) 9. 16 IPCC, Climate Change 2022 — Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability: Working Group II Contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge University Press, 2023) (‘Sixth Assessment Report’); United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Technical Guidance on Comprehensive Risk Assessment and Planning in the Context of Climate Change (Report, 2022); UNHCR, No Escape: On the Frontlines of Climate Change, Conflict and Forced Displacement (Report, November 2024) (‘No Escape’). 17 For example, see the 24th Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage (WIM) Executive Committee Meeting, Item 10d (April 2026). 18 UNHCR, Global Trends 2025 (n 4), 47. 19  Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union Treaty 2024 (‘Falepili Union Treaty’); UNDP, ‘No. 29 Policy Notes: A Strategic Approach to Climate Mobility Adaptation and Resilience in Latin America and the Caribbean’ (2024); Craig Reucassel, Deborah Richards and Victoria Allens, ‘In Fiji, the Climate Crisis Is No Longer off in the Future — It’s a Daily Reality’, ABC News (online, April 2023)<https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-06/fiji-climate-change-moving-villages-vunidogoloa/102186670>; UNICEF, ‘Child Alert: Children Uprooted in the Caribbean’ (Web Page, December 2019) <https://www.unicef.org/media/62836/file/Children-uprooted-in-the-Caribbean-2019.pdf>; David James Cantor, ‘Cross-Border Displacement, Climate Change and Disasters: Latin America and the Caribbean’ (Platform on Disaster Displacement, UNHCR, July 2018); CARICOM, ‘Climate Change and Nature Disasters Key Drivers of Displacement in the Caribbean’ (Web Page, 10 July 2024) <https://caricom.org/climate-change-and-natural-disasters-key-drivers-of-displacement-in-the-caribbean/>; Leah Ndimurwimo and Michaela Jahnig, ‘The Impacts of Climate Change on Statelessness in the Southern African Region’ (2022) 8(3) African Human Mobility Review 94–128. In its Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change, the International Court of Justice (‘ICJ’) acknowledges a specific linkage between climate change and displacement, referring to widely-accepted scientific evidence, that displacement is among the ‘severe and far reaching’ consequences of climate change that are already increasing in ‘particularly vulnerable countries’, such as Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States. The ICJ notes in particular that small island States experience ‘forced displacement of populations within their territory or across borders’ Preamble, [73], [303], and [357]. The United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/80/L.65 welcoming the Advisory Opinion of the ICJ on the Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change on 20 May 2026. See: Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change, GA Res 80/L.65, UN Doc A/80/L.65 (13 May 2026) (‘ICJ Advisory Opinion’) 20 Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, ‘Global Internal Displacement Database’ (Web Page) <https://www.internal-displacement.org/database/displacement-data/>; IPCC, Sixth Assessment Report (n 16). 21 UNHCR, No Escape (n 16). 22  Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, opened for signature 26 December 1933, 20165 LNTS 165 (adopted 26 December 1934) article 1 (‘Montevideo Convention’). 23 Ibid. 83