YALE HUMAN RIGHTS & DEVELOPMENT L.J. 2017] The Risk of Statelessness VOL. XIX 77 Haitian legal framework.210 The Court reviewed the 1957 Haitian Constitution, effective at the time of Victor Jean’s birth, and noted that it provided for nationality jus sanguinis to the child of a Haitian father born abroad.211 However, because filiation had not been established for Victor Jean, the Court found that there existed the possibility that Haiti would not consider him a Haitian national.212 The 1987 Haitian Constitution, in effect at the time of the Jean children’s births, provided jus sanguinis nationality to a child born abroad to either a Haitian father or mother.213 At the same time, the Court pointed out a 1984 law that prevented children born abroad to a Haitian mother and foreign father from acquiring Haitian nationality until the age of 18.214 The Court indicated that the effect of the 1984 law on the 1987 Constitution had not been established, and that Victor Jean could have been considered “foreign” under the Haitian Constitution because the nationality of his father had never been established.215 The Court acknowledged that it was not in a position to make a pronouncement on the operation of Haitian law;216 rather, it was “merely demonstrating, based on certain public information, that the State’s argument that the presumed victims could acquire Haitian nationality would have required greater substantiation to support it.”217 On this basis, the Court concluded that “this would entail the risk of statelessness for the presumed victims, because the State has not proved sufficiently that these persons would obtain another nationality.”218 The Court concluded that the Dominican Republic had retroactively applied norms concerning the legal certainty of the Jeans’ right to nationality, that they faced a risk of statelessness when it did so, and that the Dominican state had therefore arbitrarily violated their right to nationality.219 Three points warrant particular emphasis with regard to this most recent iteration of the statelessness debate between the Inter-American Court and the Dominican justice system. First, the Inter-American Court did not declare the Jeans stateless. This is particularly important, because it represents a shift in its position in The Girls Yean and Bosico, where it found that the two girls had been left stateless after Dominican authorities had denied them birth certificates. Second, the Court placed the burden on the Dominican Republic to demonstrate that the Jeans were not stateless at birth. Finally, the Court considered some possible interpretations of Haitian law in concluding that the Jeans faced a risk of statelessness, triggering the rule of law that a person must acquire the nationality of the place of birth if 210. Id. ¶ 297. 211. Id. 212. Id. 213. Id. 214. Id. 215. Id. 216. See id. (“[I]t should be clarified that this does not mean that the Court, in the context of this case, is examining the laws of Haiti.”). 217. Id. 218. Id. ¶ 298 (emphasis added). 219. Id. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3111529