2020 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 2(1) for the affected person or population. The solutions after recognition as a stateless person may range from a grant of protection status to an outright grant of nationality. 14 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (‘UDHR’) affirms that ‘everyone has the right to a nationality’, thereby acknowledging the legal and practical importance of nationality for the enjoyment of human rights. 15 By virtue of art 15 of the UDHR, in addition to the obligations to protect, identify and prevent statelessness, governments must also ensure the eradication of statelessness by ensuring that everyone holds a nationality, 16 including from birth. 17 The enjoyment of the right to a nationality serves as a gateway to the enjoyment of other fundamental rights, such as residency rights, health care, free movement, education, family life and political rights. Indeed, not having a nationality creates a legal barrier to enjoy fundamental civil, political, economic, cultural and social rights that most people take for granted. 18 Thus, it is important that states identify stateless people in their territory so that they can enjoy basic human rights, allowing them to live in dignity until their situation can be resolved through acquisition of a nationality. 19 Protection in a statelessness context, in its broadest sense, means that a stateless person has access to and can enjoy the rights enshrined in the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (‘1954 Convention’) and in other relevant international human rights instruments. Protection also means, in a narrower sense, official recognition as a stateless person and being granted a legal status that ensures the proper enjoyment of the abovementioned rights. 20 SDP involves first identifying all states with which an individual has ties, such as through birth, filiation, marriage or habitual residence, and then determining whether any of those identified states considers the individual as a national, either as a matter of law or as a matter of practice. 21 The foregoing should be done with a view to acknowledging a person as stateless and where the circumstances or findings suggest so, to subsequently grant protection and to facilitate naturalisation for stateless persons. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 A recognition of statelessness through SDP should automatically grant protection status that would cumulate into naturalisation eventually, especially for those in migratory context. Otherwise, the SDP would not have fulfilled the obligation under the 1954 Convention arts 3–32. Additionally, in situ population and longstanding residence should be able to immediately access naturalisation. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, GA Res 217A (III), UN GAOR, UN Doc A/810 (10 December 1948) art 15 (‘UDHR’). See Protecting the Rights of Stateless Persons: The 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (Appeal, UNHCR January 2014) 2. See Convention on the Rights of the Child, opened for signature 20 November 1989, 1577 UNTS 3 (entered into force 2 September 1990) art 24(3) (‘CRC’). Katalin Berényi, ‘An Inspiring Parallel between the Italian and Hungarian Jurisprudence with a View to Reducing Statelessness’ (2019) 39 DPCE Online 1579. Statelessness Determination Procedures: Identifying and Protecting Stateless Persons (Appeal, UNHCR August 2014) 1 (‘Statelessness Determination Procedures’) . Gábor Gyulai, ‘The Determination of Statelessness and the Establishment of a StatelessnessSpecific Protection Regime’ in Alice Edwards and Laura van Waas (eds), Nationality and Statelessness under International Law (Cambridge University Press 2014) 116, 117. This research focuses mainly on the recognition of statelessness through an SDP, as Nigeria has no SDP in place at the moment. However, Nigeria is also advised to take further step in addition to an SDP, to ensure that recognised stateless persons enjoy a legal status that enables them to enjoy rights. Mirna Adjami, Statelessness and Nationality in Côte d’Ivoire — A Study for UNHCR (Report, UNHCR 2006) 41. 89