Unit 7 [core unit] Reducing statelessness (1): International law and the reduction of statelessness Summary In this unit, attention is turned to the reduction of statelessness – in other words, the resolution of existing cases. In particular, it considers the demands placed by international law on a State’s policy of nationality attribution, including through naturalisation, in the specific circumstance of statelessness. Students first consider the potential for case-bycase, individual naturalisation of stateless persons as a means of reduction. The relevant provisions of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the European Convention on Nationality are discussed, along with relevant statements by international human rights bodies. Attention is paid to the barriers that may confront stateless persons seeking to naturalise and whether such barriers are legitimate as well as what action could be taken to assist stateless persons in the process of naturalisation. Thereafter, alternative means of resolving statelessness, particularly legislative reform and large-scale reduction campaigns, are presented. Students are asked to think about how international legal standards relating to the right to a nationality and the avoidance of statelessness can be applied, so as to tackle existing cases of statelessness. Examples can be discussed such as: the introduction of legal reforms which bring gender equality in the enjoyment of nationality rights and are given retroactive effect (as seen recently in various North African States) or the use of the court system to achieve clarification of the law and recognition of nationality for a population which was not considered to possess nationality or whose citizenship was previously disputed (as seen, for example, in Bangladesh). Learning objectives • Explain how reduction may be achieved through case-by-case, individual naturalisation, changing criteria for attribution of nationality and large-scale reduction campaigns. • Recognise the barriers that stateless persons seeking naturalisation may confront. • Outline possibilities and calls for facilitated naturalisation of stateless persons under international law. how international standards relating to the right •to Describe a nationality and the avoidance of statelessness may guide legal reform and a dedicated reduction campaign. Readings and information sources Key readings on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, General Recommendation 30: Discrimination against non-citizens, * Committee New York, 1 October 2004. http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/0/e3980a673769e229c1256f8d0057cd3d?Opendocument van Waas, Nationality Matters. Statelessness under International Law, chapter XII on “Protecting the Special Needs of * L. the Stateless” (section 1 on “Naturalisation”), Intersentia, 2008. Hussain, “The end of Bihari statelessness” in Forced Migration Review, Issue 32, April 2009. * K. http://www.fmreview.org/FMRpdfs/FMR32/30-31.pdf Manby, Citizenship law in Africa, section on “Gender discrimination – Reforms in North Africa”, pp. 50-52, Open Society * B. Institute, 2009. http://www.afrimap.org/english/images/report/OSI-Citizenship-Law-in%20Africa-full.pdf UNHCR Action to Address Statelessness: A Strategy Note, March 2010, paras. 41-47 on “Reduction – seeking * UNHCR, solutions for stateless populations”. http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4b9e0c3d2.html A Guide to Teaching on Statelessness 33