SAHNI ARTICLE 3.3.21 (WORD) (DO NOT DELETE) Spring 2021 Loss of Nationality Rights 5/6/2021 7:21 PM 113 nationality; he or she is entitled to keep that right; and he or she is entitled to invoke the legal opportunity to change the nationality. Article 158 1.Everyone has the right to a nationality. 2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality. Alas, the UDHR is not binding on member states. This drawback means that member states are not obliged to abide by Article 15 under international or domestic law.9 Subsequent international treaties are binding and enshrine a right to nationality. They are limited in scope though. Geographical or demographic factors govern their applicability. For example, the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man10 and the American Convention on Human Rights11 are regional instruments while the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)12 guarantees the right to nationality merely to children. The Declaration and Convention echo the language of Article 15 of the UDHR. The Declaration came into effect just over six months before the UDHR was ratified. Article XIX reads: “[e]very person has the right to the nationality to which he is entitled by law and to change it, if he so wishes, for the nationality of any other country that is willing to grant it to him.” 13 Article 20 of the Convention elaborates on the Declaration and UDHR with the insertion of subclause 2. Article 20. Right to Nationality14 1. Every person has the right to a nationality. 2. Every person has the right to the nationality of the state in whose territory he was born if he does not have the right to any other nationality. 3. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality or of the right to change it. The ICCPR does not have a provision similar to Article 20(2) of the American Convention. Article 24(2) of the ICCPR serves as a counterpart instead.15 It can be interpreted to avoid potential statelessness situations. 8. 9. UDHR, supra note 1, at art. 15. See Jacob Dolinger, The Failure of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 47 U. MIAMI INTER-AM. L. REV. 164, 183 (2016). 10. American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man, May 2, 1948, 1 Annals of the O.A.S. 130 (1949) [hereinafter American Declaration]. 11. American Convention on Human Rights, Nov. 22, 1969, 1144 U.N.T.S. 123 [hereinafter ACHR]. 12. G.A. Res. 2200A (XXI), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Dec. 16, 1966) [hereinafter ICCPR]. 13. American Declaration, supra note 10, at art. XIX. 14. ACHR, supra note 11, at art. 20. 15. See ICCPR, supra note 12, at art. 24(2).