Rising Statelessness Due to Disappearing Island States the media illustrate this dilemma. 2 The lack of protection might be partially explained by the limited ratification of the two United Nations ‘Conventions on Statelessness’ — the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (‘1954 Convention’) and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (‘1961 Convention’). 3 This is particularly the case with regard to states, which would most likely serve as host states to fleeing stateless persons in the future. To date, only 91 states have ratified the 1954 Convention and 73 states are party to the 1961 Convention. 4 Additionally, statelessness is still a comparatively underrepresented area in international legal scholarship, especially when comparing it to intertwined fields such as refugee law or international human rights law in general. 5 Yet, it is a person’s nationality 6 — at least from a state’s perspective 7 — which matters a great deal when claiming a ‘human’ right vis-ávis a state. The lack of nationality not only limits which fundamental rights are granted by states on the domestic level but also the enjoyment of international human rights. Hence, should a state refuse to grant citizenship to persons permanently residing in its territory, it thus hinders these persons to effectively enjoy a wide range of civil, political and social rights. 8 On the international level, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (‘UNHCR’) set the goal in its Global Action Plan to End Statelessness 2014–24. 9 At first glance and given the upcoming challenges in international law, however, that seems rather illusionary. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Approximately one year ago, the clearance operations against the Rohingya people started in Myanmar. Almost one million Rohingya refugees live now in the world’s biggest refugee camps in Bangladesh. As their return to Myanmar is still considered too dangerous, their future remains unknown. Michael Safi, ‘“We Cannot Go Back”: Grim Future Facing Rohingya One Year after Attacks’ The Guardian (London, 25 August 2018) <https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/aug/24/rohingya-one-year-afterattacks>. Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, opened for signature 28 September 1954, 360 UNTS 117 (entered into force 6 June 1960) (‘1954 Convention’); Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, opened for signature 30 August 1961, 989 UNTS 185 (entered into force 13 December 1975) (‘1961 Convention’). See United Nations Treaty Collections, ‘Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary General — Chapter V: Refugees and Stateless Persons’ <https://treaties.un.org/Pages/Treaties.aspx?id=5&subid=A&clang=_en> (‘Refugees and Stateless Persons Page’). Alice Edwards and Laura van Waas, ‘Introduction’ in Alice Edwards and Laura van Waas (eds), Nationality and Statelessness under International Law (Cambridge University Press 2014) 1. See also Will Hanley, ‘Statelessness: An Invisible Theme in the History of International Law’ (2014) 25(1) European Journal of International Law 321, 321–27. As there is no ‘fundamental’ difference between nationality and citizenship, the terms will be used synonymously for the purpose of this paper. Please note that there is a difference between fundamental human rights, which are granted by, for example, a state’s constitution and international human rights, applicable to everyone by virtue of being human. See Part III for more details. David Weissbrodt and Clay Collins, ‘The Human Rights of Stateless Persons’ (2006) 28(1) Human Rights Quarterly 245, 248: ‘[M]any states only allow their own nationals to exercise full civil, political, economic, and social rights within their territories’. See also Part III. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Global Action Plan to End Statelessness 2014–24 (Action Plan, 2014) <https://www.unhcr.org/enau/protection/statelessness/54621bf49/global-action-plan-end-statelessness-20142024.html>. See also United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, ‘Stateless People’, <http://www.unhcr.org/stateless-people.html>. See generally Matthew Seet, ‘The Origins of UNHCR’s Global Mandate on Statelessness’ (2016) 28(1) International Journal on Refugee Law 7. 43