IDLO AND UNHCR
2. STATELESSNESS AND THE RIGHT TO A
NATIONALITY
Definition and extent of
statelessness
A stateless person is someone who
is not recognised as a national by
any country. The number of stateless
people globally is unknown. UNHCR
data received from 96 countries
indicates that, at the end of 2021, there
were an estimated 4.3 million stateless
people or persons of undetermined
nationality.4 Based on these figures,
the largest known populations of those
who are stateless or of undetermined
nationality can be found in Côte d’Ivoire
(931,166), Bangladesh (918,841),
Myanmar (600,000), Thailand (561,527)
and Latvia (195,190).
International legal
framework for protection
from statelessness
There is an international legal
framework to protect stateless
persons and to prevent and reduce
statelessness. The 1954 Convention
Relating to the Status of Stateless
Persons (1954 Convention) sets out
the international legal definition of a
stateless person as someone “who
is not considered as a national by any
State under the operation of its law”
and extends to these persons specific
rights such as the right to education,
employment and housing as well as
the right to identity, travel documents
and administrative assistance.5 The
1961 Convention on the Reduction
of Statelessness (1961 Convention)
requires that States establish
safeguards in legislation to prevent
statelessness at birth or later in life,
for example due to loss or renunciation
of nationality or State succession.6 The
right to a nationality is also set out in
several international human rights
instruments, such as the Universal
4.3 MILLION
STATELESS PEOPLE AND
PEOPLE OF UNDETERMINED
NATIONALITY
top 5 countries indicated
LATVIA
195,190
BANGLADESH
918,841
CÔTE D’IVOIRE
931,166
MYANMAR
600,000
THAILAND
561,527
Estimatesbased
basedon
onUNHCR
UNHCR Global
Global Trends:
Estimates
12
Forced
Displacement
Forced Displacement in
in 2021
2021
Declaration of Human Rights, the
International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, the International
Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination, the
Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against
Women, the Convention on the Rights
of the Child, the Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities,
and the Migrant Workers Convention.7
Furthermore, customary international
law reinforces the statelessness
conventions through key norms such as
the prohibition on racial discrimination
which applies both to the acquisition
and loss of nationality and the
treatment of stateless persons.
Causes of statelessness
The causes of statelessness vary,
and include discrimination on the
basis of sex, ethnicity, race, religion
or language, gaps in nationality
legislation, State succession,
administrative obstacles to acquisition,
and lack of nationality and birth
documentation. Direct and indirect
discrimination on the basis of ethnicity,
race, religion, or language is one of the
main causes of statelessness and can
5