2.2 Causes of statelessness Statelessness can be caused by numerous factors and can occur in migratory situations. Most stateless persons, however, have never crossed any borders and find themselves without a nationality in the country in which they have been long-term residents or in their country of birth. Some causes are of a legal technical nature, for example where statelessness is caused by gaps in nationality laws or conflicts between nationality laws. States determine their own nationality laws, within certain limited restrictions imposed by international law and international human rights law. The two main legal principles governing States’ grant of nationality at birth are jus sanguinis (citizenship by descent) and jus soli (citizenship by birth in the territory). Conflicts in these laws are one of several types of conflicts of law giving rise to situations that can render a child stateless. For example, a child born in the territory of a jus sanguinis State to parents with nationality of a jus soli State would encounter problems obtaining any nationality if the national legislation of the respective two States do not contain any safeguards that would allow such a child to obtain citizenship. Statelessness can also occur later in life. Some legal systems provide for mechanisms of automatic loss of nationality, for example after a long absence from the territory. Some States require that a person renounce his or her previous nationality before acquiring the nationality of that State. Withdrawal of nationality can also lead to statelessness if there is no adequate safeguard in place to prevent statelessness. Another major cause of statelessness relates to the dissolution and separation of States, disputes about borders, transfer of territory between States and the creation of new States. In Europe, many people were left stateless after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In addition to or underlying the aforementioned causes of statelessness is discrimination in nationality law or in practice against certain parts of the population, mostly from minorities,13 and arbitrary deprivation of nationality, which contributes significantly to the creation or perpetuation of statelessness. Based on, for example, ethnicity or religious beliefs, a certain group within a State or populations living across multiple States are sometimes denied or deprived of nationality. Examples of such populations are the Rohingya in Myanmar, the Bidoon in the Arab Gulf States and parts of the Roma population in Europe. Discrimination on the ground of gender can also be a cause of statelessness. In some nationality laws, women are not able to pass their nationality on to their children. Moreover, women may lose their nationality upon marriage or upon dissolution of the marriage. Women’s inability to transmit their nationality to their children is especially problematic in cases where children are born out of wedlock or where the father is unknown, has passed away, has left, is stateless or is a foreigner who is unable to transmit his own nationality or is unwilling to take the necessary administrative steps to do so. Today, 27 States still discriminate against women in their laws regarding the conferral of nationality to children. These countries are located in almost all parts of the world, the majority of which can be found in the Middle East and North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.14 2.3 Consequences of statelessness Most stateless persons encounter many difficulties in every aspect of daily life. It is often the case that stateless persons do not enjoy their basic human rights. Even though the enjoyment of fundamental human rights is not formally dependent on citizenship status, many States only extend human rights protection to their nationals or to persons who reside lawfully in the country, which is not always the case for stateless persons. Stateless persons may face obstacles accessing education or health care services, entering the labour market, travelling abroad, or owning land or other property. Stateless persons may not be able to register the birth of their 13 For more information, please see UNHCR´s report “This is Our Home” Stateless Minorities and their Search for Citizenship, 3 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59e4a6534.html. 14 UNHCR, Background Note on Gender Equality, Nationality Laws and Statelessness 2014, 8 March 2014, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/532075964.html. UNHCR Czech Republic 13