2016] The Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness in Australia 501 on Human Rights.275 As Matthew J Gibney has so eloquently articulated, ‘[t]he loss of citizenship transforms the citizen into an alien in the eyes of the state, stripping them of all rights held qua citizen and making them vulnerable to deportation power.’276 Given that citizenship is often a precursor to the enjoyment of many other rights, it is not surprising that the catalogue of rights potentially affected is wide, spanning both civil and political, as well as social and economic, rights.277 At the core of concerns relating to denationalisation powers is a deeply ethical one. Gibney explains that many political theorists have explored the notion that, regardless of legal entitlement, ‘continued residence over time in a state gives rise to a moral right to residence and thus to membership’,278 on the basis that it is ‘unjust not to grant people citizenship in countries where they have made their lives.’279 The notion of a right to citizenship jus domicilii is only in nascent form in international law,280 yet international human rights law recognises that persons other than citizens may have a right to live in the country in which they have established their life. Specifically, the right to return to one’s ‘own country’ is enshrined in art 12(4) of the ICCPR. This has particular pertinence to Australia given that the provisions effecting constructive renunciation can apply when a person is overseas, which has the effect of denationalising for the purposes of preventing return.281 Yet, art 12(4) is not subject to any limitation, even on national interest or security grounds.282 As the UN Human Rights Committee has unequivocally stated: 275 Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, above n 217, 35--58 [2.38]--[2.153]. 276 Matthew J Gibney, ‘‘‘Very Transcendental Power’’: Denaturalisation and the Liberalisation of Citizenship in the United Kingdom’ (2013) 61 Political Studies 637, 638. 277 See Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, above n 217, 35--6 [2.38]--[2.39]. 278 Matthew J Gibney, ‘Should Citizenship be Conditional? The Ethics of Denationalization’ (2013) 75 Journal of Politics 646, 655. 279 Ibid. 280 One rare provision that does incorporate the residency principle is found in the European Convention on Nationality, opened for signature 6 November 1997, ETS No 166 (entered into force 1 March 2000) art 6. 281 This is supported by the background material. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, above n 217, 46 [2.80] provides that ‘[t]he committee considered that it was clear from the statement of compatibility to the original bill that the intention was to exclude Australian citizens who are outside Australia at the time their citizenship ceases, from being able to return to Australia.’ 282 ICCPR art 12(3) allows for limits only to arts 12(1)--(2), not 12(4): see ibid 45--7 [2.75]--[2.86].