DESK REVIEW ON POPULATIONS AT RISK OF STATELESSNESS Terminology Stateless Person (sometimes also referred to as “De Jure stateless”): A stateless person is a person who is not considered a national by any State under the operation of its law (Article 1 of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons).27 Person at risk of statelessness: A person who may have difficulty providing proof that they meet the requirements set by law for the acquisition of nationality.28 A person is at risk of statelessness where proof of the person’s nationality status is lacking, or where a person’s nationality is doubtful, undetermined or unknown.29 In such circumstances, nationality or statelessness status determination may be necessary to assess whether or not the person is stateless. On the basis of such a determination, a person may be declared to be stateless, but until such a determination takes place, a person may be more appropriately referred to as “at risk of statelessness.” This is because, using the term stateless in relation to a person or population who may not in fact be stateless may have serious consequences. This report avoids using the term “stateless person(s)” loosely. As noted further on in this document, five populations have been identified by the Government of the Philippines as being at risk of statelessness through inter-agency discussions from 2010 to 2011.30 De Facto Stateless: Persons who may formally possess a nationality, but are in a situation similar to stateless persons, because they are outside the country of their nationality, and are unable or, for valid reasons, are unwilling to avail themselves of the protection Department Circular No. 058 - Establishing the Refugees and Stateless Status Determination Procedure [Philippines], 18 October 2012, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5086932e2.html; UN General Assembly, Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, 28 September 1954, United Nations Treaty Series, Vol. 360, p. 117, available at: https://www. refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3840.html. 27 Hugh Massey, UNHCR and De Facto Statelessness, April 2010, LPPR/2010/01, available at: https://www.refworld.org/ docid/4bbf387d2.html (“It should be noted that just because a person has not been registered by a State as its national does not necessarily mean that he or she is not considered as a national under the operation of that State’s law. For example, each year approximately 48 million births remain unregistered by the time the children concerned have reached the age of five, but this does not necessarily mean that none of those children have a nationality. What it does mean, however, is that the children are at the very least at risk of not being able to prove a claim that a claim that they have acquired nationality jure sanguinis or jure soli should their nationality status ever be questioned. Such questioning could be triggered either by the State whose nationality is at issue, or by another State (if, for example, the child concerned was born or later travelled abroad).” (emphasis added)). 28 Paul Weiss Statement by Paul Weis to the United Nations Conference on the Elimination or Reduction of Future Statelessness (25 August 1961). 29 DOJ has noted that under Philippine jurisprudence, Philippine citizenship is determined by blood (jus sanguinis), and can be proven by a birth certificate, which offers prima facie proof of filiation; or a passport, which proves that the country which issued it recognizes the person named therein as its national. (See, Hrs. of Pedro Cabais v. Court of Appeals, G.R. Nos. 106314-15, 8 October 1999, and Casan Macode Macquiling v. COMELEC, G.R. No. 195649, 2 July 2013). In the absence of such legal identity documents, the person concerned is at risk of statelessness. Unfortunately, the person may be recognized as stateless when he/she applies for stateless status determination, and at the time of the decision, he/she does not possess any of said identity documents to prove Philippine citizenship, or proof that he/she is a national of another country. 30 UNHCR / April 2021 15