2018] NATIONALITY AND DEFINING “THE RIGHT TO HAVE RIGHTS”
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ry, are not British citizens and are not entitled to vote or hold public
office in the United Kingdom. Though they are not British nationals
for European Commission purposes—i.e. they do not receive the
benefit of European Union nationality—British Protected Persons are
British nationals in all other international law contexts. Both American Samoans and British Protected Persons enjoy functional nationality, insofar as they can receive consular and diplomatic protection
and can receive passports from their respective States.
Several Latin American States also distinguish between citizen and non-citizen nationals, 223 typically through constitutional provisions. 224 These distinctions, which bear on individuals’ right to
take part in the political process, are drawn along conventional lines
for identifying an electorate. As an example, the Mexican constitution provides that citizens are Mexican nationals who are eighteen
years of age or older and who “have an honest way of life,” or
against whom there are no criminal charges. 225 The Costa Rican
constitution similarly provides that citizenship attaches when its nationals reach age eighteen and have not been subject to a criminal
sentence suspending citizenship rights. 226 In contrast to the U.S. or
Latvian distinctions between citizen and non-citizen nationals, the
Latin American distinctions between citizen and non-citizen nationals are largely formalistic distinctions, given that citizenship necessarily attaches to all non-criminal nationals who reach adulthood.
Many States, though evidently not all States, shed their distinctions between citizens and non-citizen nationals with the end of
the colonial era. Former French colonies ceased operating under
French codes de l’indigénat, which had rendered African peoples
disenfranchised French non-citizen nationals. 227 Similarly, Portugal’s distinction between indígenas and não-indígenas, or nonindigenous full Portuguese citizens, was abolished when former colonies and overseas provinces gained independence. 228 Without their
colonies, Spain, Belgium, Germany, and Italy ended their previous
223. Law No. 346, Nov. 23, 2004, A.D.L.A. (Arg.).
224. Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Dirio Oficial de la
Federación [DOF], art. 34, 05-02-1917 últimas reformas DOF 10-02-2014 (Mex.);
Constitución Política de la República de Chile [C.P.] arts. 10, 13; Constitución Política de
Colombia [C.P.] arts. 3, 13; República de Costa Rica Constitución Política 1949, arts. 13,
90; Constitución de 1983, arts. 71, 90 (El Salvador).
225. Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos 2005, art. 34.
226. República de Costa Rica Constitución Política 1949, arts. 90–91.
227. BRONWEN MANBY, CITIZENSHIP LAW IN AFRICA: A COMPARATIVE STUDY 40
(2016).
228. Id. at 41–42.
Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2954729