becomes difficult.39 Very significantly, their right to reside in the country also remains precarious;
many individuals who have been stripped of their nationality have received deportation orders
once the revocation takes place (see above),40 without any clear determination as to how they
may travel or where they can go. Stateless children have to renew their residency permits yearly
and once they are adults they have to be sponsored by an employer in order to continue living in
Bahrain.41 The majority are able to get sponsored by other family members – making them
dependent on them – but run the risk of being detained or deported if not. A number of Bahrain’s
international human rights obligations, particularly under the ICCPR, are violated as a result.
Recommendations
27. To address the multifaceted issue of statelessness in Bahrain, the Institute and ADHRB
recommend the following:
39
i.
Conduct research and initiate clear procedures to identify and determine the number and
profiles of stateless individuals in Bahrain, particularly the Bidoon and Ajam communities.
ii.
Take steps to ensure access to citizenship and the full rights associated with citizenship for
those who have been determined stateless in Bahrain.
iii.
Remove Bahrain’s reservation to and ensure full compliance with Article 9 CEDAW.
iv.
Continue the steps that have been taken to amend the Citizenship Law to enable Bahraini
women to transfer nationality to their children without restriction, on an equal basis to men.
Ensure that this is completed without unnecessary delay, in accordance with international
standards.
v.
Accede to and fully implement the 1954 and 1961 Statelessness conventions,
vi.
Eliminate the Ministry of Interior’s authority to deprive persons of their nationality through
the issuance of orders under the decree.
vii.
Amend the Citizenship Law to prevent arbitrary deprivation of and to ensure redress and the
right of appeal for all persons who have been deprived of their nationality. In particular,
prohibit the deprivation of nationality that results in statelessness.
viii.
Reinstate the nationality of all persons whose nationality was arbitrarily deprived, prioritising
those who have consequentially been left stateless.
Ibid
Amnesty International, Bahrain: Alarming spike in expulsion of citizens arbitrarily stripped of their nationality,
2016 access at https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/03/bahrain-alarming-spike-in-expulsion-ofcitizens-arbitrarily-stripped-of-their-nationality/
41
Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Stateless in Bahrain, 2014 access at
http://bahrainrights.org/sites/default/files/Stateless%20in%20Bahrain%20-%20Final.pdf
40