EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Statelessness affects millions of people globally. Many of them are denied access to basic rights and services. Although the international human rights treaties establish that most human rights are for “everyone”, the right to a nationality is in practice often the foundation for enjoyment of other rights. Ending statelessness is thus a priority for the realisation of human rights for all and to fulfil the objective of the Sustainable Development Goals to “leave no one behind”. Achieving an end to statelessness will require many different strategies, not only legal ones. However, since the rules and procedures for recognition and grant of nationality are established by law, legal strategies are among those necessary for resolution of the status of stateless persons. Litigation has been an important tool to advance the interpretation of states’ international legal obligations to respect every person’s right to a nationality and to prevent and reduce statelessness. Litigation has not only assisted particular individuals and communities to gain recognition of their right to nationality or protection as stateless persons. It has also helped to develop national, regional, and international normative frameworks that have moved nationality from a legal status that is recognised by states at their discretion, into the sphere of human rights and the rule of law. This Guide provides resources for practitioners—especially lawyers, but including stateless people and others advocating on their behalf—to develop strategies to use litigation to achieve progress towards the realisation of the right to a nationality for all. The Guide both considers the design and management of a case and provides a compilation of legal arguments drawn from jurisprudence in international and regional human rights courts and treaty-bodies, and apex courts at national level. While the Guide has a particular focus on litigation conceived of as strategic —that is, consciously aimed at achieving changes in law, policy, practice, or public awareness above and beyond relief for the named complainants— the objective is to support any litigation on these issues, especially since cases often take on a “strategic” character only after they are initiated. The impacts of litigation Litigation on the right to a nationality may have material impacts for the complainants, such as the grant or recognition of nationality to an individual or a category of persons, or compensation for harm suffered. It may also have instrumental impacts benefiting a wider category of people, including reforms to nationality law or to procedures for issuance of identity documents. Litigation may also have immaterial impacts, such as validation of a cause or changes to public and official perceptions and discourse. The impacts of litigation may be felt at national level, across borders (especially in countries with similar legal systems), or in the development of international norms. This Guide provides examples of such impact across many different countries of the world. Developing a litigation strategy Litigation has unique power to create certain types of change, but it is not suited to all contexts and problems. A litigation strategy must be set within a wider ecosystem of advocacy, if it is to have the positive impact desired. Litigation for the right to nationality and identity documents raises particular opportunities and risks that should be considered from the start, especially where broader impacts are envisaged beyond assisting the individual complainant. Assessment of the national context is therefore essential, in order to consider if litigation is even the right tool. Considering the political and legal environment, risk assessment and consideration of what could go wrong are important parts of planning litigation. A litigation strategy will have to consider the resources needed not only to launch a legal challenge but also to see it all the way through to a conclusion—potentially through several layers of appeal. Building coalitions The impact of litigation is always greater if it is combined with a range of other advocacy tools. Litigation should be planned and conducted as part of a much wider advocacy ecosystem in which there is close cooperation among litigators, their individual clients, and the wider community of affected persons. Litigators need to build alliances with civil society groups working on related themes, with parliamentarians, with national human rights institutions, and (where possible) with sympathetic officials or ministers in different government departments. The building and maintenance of such networks must start before the case is launched and continue after a final judgment is issued. Choice of forum and of parties to a case When planning litigation on behalf of stateless persons there may be a choice of forum—of different court, tribunal or other adjudicatory body—to which a case may be brought. The most obvious one may not always be the best. In some 8 U N H C R | L I T I G AT I N G T H E R I G H T T O A N AT I O N A L I T Y: A G U I D E F O R P R AC T I T I O N E R S