Contents
FOREWORD.......................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................3
A. BACKGROUND TO THE 1954 CONVENTION.......................................................................3
B. UNHCR AND STATELESSNESS................................................................................................4
C. THE SCOPE OF THE HANDBOOK...........................................................................................4
D. STATELESSNESS AND
DE FACTO STATELESSNESS.....................................................................................................5
E. DETERMINING WHO IS STATELESS........................................................................................6
F. STATELESSNESS STATUS........................................................................................................... 7
PART ONE: CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING STATELESSNESS...............................9
A. THE DEFINITION...........................................................................................................................9
B. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS................................................................................................. 10
C. INTERPRETION OF TERMS....................................................................................................... 11
(1) “by any State”........................................................................................................................ 11
(a) Which States need to be examined?..................................................................... 11
(b) What is a “State”?........................................................................................................ 11
(2) “not considered as a national … under the operation of its law”.......................... 12
(a) Meaning of “law”........................................................................................................ 12
(b) When is a person “not considered as a national” under
a State’s law and practice?............................................................................................ 12
(i) Automatic and non-automatic modes of acquisition or
withdrawal of nationality......................................................................................... 13
(ii) Identifying competent authorities................................................................... 13
(iii) Evaluating evidence of competent authorities in non-automatic
modes of nationality acquisition and withdrawal............................................. 14
(iv) Evaluating evidence of competent authorities in automatic
modes of citizenship acquisition or loss of nationality................................... 15
(v) Considerations where State practice contravenes automatic
modes of acquisition of nationality...................................................................... 16