EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM • Persecution based on formal citizenship Persecution based on nationality in the sense of legal citizenship can affect persons holding one or more nationalities. For example, this may occur where a dual national is threatened with persecution in their country of first nationality by actors who are hostile towards individuals from the country of the person’s second nationality. This situation can occur for example where the two countries are at war with each other or where there are frequent political tensions between the two. Of course, the overlap with the ground of (imputed) political opinion is evident in such a case. Another example of a dual national being persecuted for reasons that are exclusively linked to the ground of nationality could be if the person’s other country of nationality is associated with a danger to public health and anyone with links to that country is subjected to mistreatment. Persecution based on nationality may occur where foreign citizenship is merely potential. This would be the case, for example, where the persecutor assumes, rightly or wrongly, that a person is eligible for another foreign citizenship. This could be assumed based on the person having married a person from the other country; holding a particular name; having relatives who are foreign nationals; or having been born or having lived there for a long time. There can also be instances where persecution arises based on former citizenship, regardless of whether that citizenship was held recently or a long time ago and regardless of whether the change of citizenship was automatic or was actively sought by the person. A person may also face persecution in a country due to their former citizenship of a predecessor state which no longer exists. Of course, persecution based on obtaining another nationality will only give way to international protection as long as the applicant who is being persecuted for holding another nationality cannot obtain protection in their other country of nationality (e.g. because of armed conflict). Finally, lack of formal citizenship can also be a reason for persecution. This is the case of persons who are stateless in the country in which they live in and where they are being persecuted for being stateless. • Both minorities and majorities can be persecuted based on nationality Often, persecution based on nationality targets national minorities (ethnic, linguistic, cultural) and commonly takes the form of severe discrimination. Depending on the circumstances, notably if persecution is group-based, belonging to such a minority may in itself give rise to a well-founded fear of persecution. Note that there is no internationally agreed definition of ‘minority’. The existence of a minority depends on objective factual factors (such as the existence of a shared ethnicity, language or 78