Law or policy reform enabling acquisition of nationality by registration Statelessness situation Nationality matters in Brazil are regulated by the country’s Constitution, rather than ordinary legislation. The Brazilian Constitution has always enshrined the jus soli principle by conferring Brazilian nationality to all children born in Brazil. However, the rules regarding conferral of Brazilian nationality through descent, pursuant to the jus sanguinis principle, have been subject to amendment. Until 1994, children born abroad to a Brazilian mother or father could acquire Brazilian nationality provided they registered with a Brazilian consular representation. From 1994 onwards, due to an amendment of Article 12 of the Brazilian Constitution, Brazilian nationality could only be conferred on a child born abroad to a Brazilian father or mother if the child returned to reside in Brazil and applied for Brazilian nationality. Brazil is not only a country of immigration but also of emigration. An estimated 3 million Brazilians were living abroad when the 1994 Constitutional amendment was passed. Between 1994 and 2007, an estimated 200,000 children of Brazilians abroad were rendered stateless as a result of the 1994 Constitutional amendment, particularly those born in countries with strict jus sanguinis traditions. Civil society mobilization among the Brazilian diaspora to advocate for constitutional reform The negative effects of the 1994 Constitutional amendment were immediately felt in the Brazilian diaspora. The children of some in this group were being born stateless, in some cases without any possibility of acquiring travel documentation to enable them to go to Brazil to meet the residency requirement for citizenship. Members of the diaspora began to lobby politicians in Brasilia to urge reform. One supporting Senator drafted a bill in 1999 to correct the shortcomings of the 1994 Constitutional Amendment. This bill was successfully passed in the Senate in 2000 and deposited before the Chamber of Deputies. Brazilians abroad began to rally around the reform bill to advocate for its passage. Faced with a stalemate before the Brazilian Congress, the diaspora began to mobilize. A civil society movement, Brasileirinhos Apátridas, was created by Brazilians living in Switzerland. Chapters of the movement were also established in Israel, Japan, Germany, Portugal, France and Hungary – all countries where children of Brazilians born abroad 32 U N H C R > G P P A C T I O N 1 : R E S O LV I N G E X I S T I N G M A J O R S I T U AT I O N S O F S TAT E L E S S N E S S