12 • International Journal of Refugee Law, 2026, Vol. 00, Issue 00 above persons). Statelessness law experts have characterized this provision as establishing ‘a right to nationality based on jus domicile (long-term residence) in certain situations’.97 Both the 1954 Convention and the European Convention on Nationality emphasize that in situ stateless people should receive the nationality of the country in which they reside. States’ obligations in respect of nationality encompass obligations concerning the deprivation of nationality on discriminatory grounds and the arbitrary deprivation of nationality. These obligations stem from article 15(2) of the UDHR, which provides that ‘No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality’. The refusal of a State to grant nationality may be unlawful if the refusal was discriminatory based on prohibited grounds. Article 9 of the 1961 Convention prohibits the deprivation of nationality from an individual on ‘racial, ethnic, religious or political grounds’, while article 5(d)(iii) of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), ratified by the UAE, prohibits racial discrimination in respect of the right to nationality. While article 1(3) creates a carve-out for laws relating to nationality, ‘provided that such provisions do not discriminate against any particular nationality’, scholars have argued in favour of reading down this provision by reference to the jus cogen status of the norm of non-discrimination in customary international law.98 As the IACtHR explains, this means that ‘when regulating mechanisms for granting nationality, States must abstain from producing regulations that are discriminatory or have discriminatory effects on certain groups of population when exercising their rights’.99 Given that many of the bidun belong to the Bedouin, a distinct population group and, in the eyes of some, a distinct ethnic group,100 it can be argued that the UAE’s agreement with the Comoros and its corresponding refusal to grant its own nationality to this group was discriminatory and thus unlawful. The arbitrary deprivation of nationality is also prohibited in international law. Again, this obligation derives from article 15(2) of the UDHR and the fundamental nature of this prohibition was recognized in a resolution by the UN General Assembly.101 The deprivation of nationality will be deemed to be arbitrary when the deprivation lacks a legal basis, is not for a legitimate purpose, is not proportionate, and does not comply with procedural safeguards.102 The discriminatory deprivation of nationality is also inherently arbitrary. To summarize the legal analysis so far, the UAE is bound by its treaty obligations arising under the CRC to provide stateless children born in its territory a nationality. Furthermore, under customary international law, the UAE is obligated to ensure the bidun’s right to a Michelle Foster and Hélène Lambert, ‘Statelessness as a Human Rights Issue: A Concept Whose Time Has Come’ (2016) 28 International Journal of Refugee Law 564, 577. 98 See Michelle Foster and Timnah Baker, ‘Racial Discrimination in Nationality Laws’ (2021) 11 Columbia Journal of Race and Law 83; Bronwen Manby, ‘Filling the Holes in the Rights Framework: Statelessness, Racial Discrimination, Genuine Connections and the Right to a (Specific) Nationality’ (2026) 75 International & Comparative Law Quarterly 37, 54–56. 99 Case of the Yean and Bosico Children v Dominican Republic (n 99) [141]. 100 See Susan Frances Kennedy, ‘The Stateless Bedouin in Kuwait Society: A Study of Bedouin Identity, Culture and the Growth of an Intellectual Ideal’ (PhD Thesis, University of Adelaide 2016); Ahmad Benswait, ‘Language and Statelessness: The Impact of Political Discourses on the Bidoon Community in Kuwait’ in Tendayi Bloom and Lindsey N. Kingston (eds) Statelessness, Governance, and the Problem of Citizenship (Manchester University Press 2021) 90. 101 ‘Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ GA Res 50/152, UN Doc A/RES/50/152 (9 February 1996) [16]. 102 ‘Human Rights and Arbitrary Deprivation of Nationality: Report of the Secretary General’ UN Doc A/ HRC/13/34 (14 December 2009) [25]. 97 Downloaded from academic.oup.com/ijrl/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ijrl/eeag028/8767365 by guest on 08 October 2026 3.2.2. Obligations in respect of the discriminatory and arbitrary deprivation of nationality