13. According to Colombian nationality law, jus domicili is a key factor in being able to acquire Colombian citizenship for those born on the territory. Jus domicili under Colombian laws consists of proof of residency and the intent to remain in the country. Noncitizens can establish such intent through possession of resident and non-resident visas. Colombian authorities accept several categories of foreign persons who hold non-resident, or temporary visas, as meeting the jus domicili condition:17 students, workers, and retirees; members of faith-based organizations or religious orders recognised by the State; individuals who enter as a partner or an owner of a company; people receiving medical treatment; refugees; the partner of spouse of a Colombian citizen; and persons who enter to engage in independent trade. 14. Importantly, Law 962 of 2005,18 stipulates that the Colombian State does not require proof of residency if a child is born to noncitizens who are unable to transmit their own nationality. While this is an important safeguard to protect children against being born into statelessness, as explained below, it has its limitations and does not adequately safeguard against statelessness in practice. Populations at Risk of Statelessness 15. Article 1.1 of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons defines a stateless person as someone “who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law.” This definition is part of customary international law and has been authoritatively interpreted by UNHCR as requiring “a careful analysis of how a State applies its nationality laws in an individual’s case in practice and any review/ appeal decisions that may have had an impact on the individual’s status. This is a mixed question of fact and law.”19 Notwithstanding reports that Colombia has no significant population at risk of statelessness,20 or that the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which has the mandate for the identification and protection of stateless persons and the prevention and reduction of statelessness globally, does not list statelessness as a key priority for its 2017 within country operations,21 numerous populations are at risk of statelessness in Colombia. These populations are not mutually exclusive. Individuals may fall within several of these at-risk groups, which include: 16. Displaced Persons: In 2017, Colombia has more than 7 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) within its borders,22 the majority of whom are indigenous peoples, persons of African descent, and people who originally resided in rural areas. IDPs, while not necessarily stateless, can be at risk of statelessness as they are often unable to confirm their Colombian nationality for several reasons. First, when IDPs flee conflict, they are typically unable to secure their Colombian identity documents prior to flight, thereby making it difficult to pass on their Colombian citizenship to their offspring via jus sanguinis. Second, IDPs are not always in a position to access Civil Registries in conflict zones, again making their ability to acquire the necessary Colombian identity documents to pass on citizenship to their own children difficult. Third, some IDPs have taken the next step of fleeing across an international border – thus becoming refugees. In such contexts, the births of their children often go unregistered because they find themselves in a similar, rural institutional setting as they were in Colombia, where civil registry services are lacking.23 17 In March 2015, the Civil Registry enacted Regulation 059, which instructed registrar offices to treat documents from persons within these populations as proof of domicile. 18 Law 962 is available at http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/522717bd4.pdf. 19 UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons, 30 June 2014, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/53b676aa4.html, para 23. 20 See information from http://reporting.unhcr.org/node/2542. 21 See UNHCR’s 2017 Key Priorities in Colombia at http://reporting.unhcr.org/node/2542?y=2017#year. 22 Information from UNCHR’s 2017 Colombia Populations Trends, available at: http://reporting.unhcr.org/node/2542?y=2017#year. 23 Refer to Red ANA’s video, ‘La apatridia en Colombia’ by Monica Jimenez Amorocho, available at http://www.americasns.org/video/. 4