WHAT IS STATELESSNESS? A stateless person is someone who is “not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law.”7 Simply put, this means that a stateless person is someone who does not have the nationality of any country. Along with enacting the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, the international community has also enacted two international conventions that seek to address statelessness across the world: the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons8 and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.9 People can be stateless for many different reasons. Some (but not all) of the most common causes are: Statelessness Leave Applicant photographed in London. © UNHCR/Katie Barlow. NATIONALITY LAWS A person can be stateless because of gaps in nationality laws in the country in which they were born or were habitually resident. These gaps may be administrative obstacles which mean they simply fall through the cracks in the system. Gaps may also be more intentional with either discriminatory nationality laws in place or discriminatory practices by competent authorities who implement the nationality laws. Discrimination may be based on sex, religion, ethnicity or race – and can therefore give rise to refugee status. For example, Rohingya populations in Myanmar have been refused nationality under the 1982 citizenship law. Forced to leave their homes, they are stateless and many are now refugees. Further, some nationality laws do not grant women equality with men in conferring nationality to their children.10 In other words, women cannot confer nationality to their biological children. If children cannot acquire nationality from their mothers, they are stateless if they also cannot acquire nationality 7 8 9 10 11 from their fathers. For example, this can occur: (i) where the laws of the father’s country do not permit conferral of nationality in certain circumstances, such as when the child is born abroad; (ii) where a father is unknown or not married to the mother at the time of birth; or (iii) where a father has been unable to fulfil administrative steps to confer his nationality or acquire proof of nationality for his children because, e.g. he has died, has been forcibly separated from his family, or cannot fulfil onerous documentation requirements. According to UNHCR, 25 countries globally do not currently have equality between men and women relating to conferral of nationality upon children.11 For example, the nationality law in Qatar does not permit Qatari mothers to confer their nationality on their children, without exception, even if this would result in statelessness. Another cause of statelessness is conflict of laws. Statelessness can occur when persons move from the country in which they were born (country A) to Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. UN Treaty Collection on Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons; https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetailsII.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=V3&chapter=5&Temp=mtdsg2&clang=_en UN Treaty Collection on Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness; https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=V-4&chapter=5 For further information see UNHCR, Background Note on Gender Equality, Nationality Laws and Statelessness 2020, 14 July 2020, available from: https://www.refworld.org/ docid/5f0d7b934.html Ibid. 5