to police stations from remote areas without transport facilities and loss of livelihoods has placed severe hardship on stateless people, exacerbated by government mandated restrictions on movement. Many released detainees found themselves having to walk long distances to report to police stations as per their bail terms which were not relaxed even during the lockdown. Stateless persons who are not yet fear of arrest and even though there are no formal restrictions, there is a fear of migrating for work in case of apprehension, detention or harassment by the police and vigilante groups, particularly if they have to migrate beyond Assam into neighbouring states. Those still in detention live in inhumane living conditions with inadequate medical facilities. Lawyer specialising in legal support to people at risk of statelessness in Assam, Aman Wadud Maijaan was released from detention after the Supreme Court ordered the release of those who have been detained for two or more years. She must now report to the police station every week. Her husband migrates for work, but she cannot go with him because of this reporting livelihood, placing the family in a very precarious situation as they have to repay the loan they took STATELESSNESS AND THE RIGHT TO NATIONALITY IN INDIA The 1949 Constitution of India19 (rev. 2016) and the Citizenship Act 195520 (last amended 2019) set the rules for citizenship in India. According acquiring Indian Citizenship: birth, descent, registration, naturalisation and the incorporation of territories.21 In 1986 the Citizenship Act was amended stating that a child born in India can only get Indian citizenship if at least one parent is an Indian citizen and the other is not an ‘illegal migrant’. Another amendment made in 2003 stated that a child born in India was eligible for citizenship acquisition only if both parents were Indian citizens at the time of the child’s birth. In 2003 the Act was amended again in Section 3(1)(b) stating that persons born after 1 July 1987 in India shall be a citizen if either parent is an Indian citizen. This does not however provide safeguards against statelessness for individuals born after 1 July 1987 to non-citizen parents.22 Indian law also does not provide extra safeguards against new cases of childhood statelessness in such situations. Another risk of statelessness is posed by Section 5 of the Citizenship Act. This provision provides for individuals without citizenship who are residing in India to acquire citizenship by registration if certain criteria are met.23 However, this provision excludes those deemed as ‘illegal migrants’.24 As a consequence, many residents without citizenship remain at risk of statelessness. In 2019, the government passed the contested Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019, which facilitates citizenship to six specdesh and Pakistan that entered India before 31 December 2014. However, the Law is discriminatory on the basis of religion, excluding Muslims.25 Consequently, Muslim migrants or refugees from the above-mentioned states face a greater risk of statelessness. The Act also discriminates against Sri Lankan refugees of all religions who have been in India for the last thirty years. In August 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that a child born after 3 December 2004 will not be included in the NRC if either parent is considered a ‘doubtful voter’ or declared a ‘foreigner’26 thus making them ineligible for Indian citizenship and putting the child at risk of statelessness. THE CESF CONSORTIUM PROJECT 18 Case Study: Maijaan Nessa, 38, belongs to Assamese Muslim ethnicity. She is married to Momresh Al, a Bengali Muslim form the Barpeta District of Assam. She was marked as a doubtful voter and eventually had to appear before a FT which declared her a ‘foreigner’ in 2015. She was called to the police station to give her thumb print so that the case would be dismissed but instead was arrested and detained without any prior notice and without being allowed to inform her family. She was detained in Kokrajhar Detention Camp for four years and ten months. Maijaan has three daughters and two sons. Her eldest son was 18 years at the time of her detention and unable to deal with the stress of his mother’s detention, the trauma of which led to his untimely death. Her other children were minors at the time. She and her husband are illiterate and from very poor socio-economic background. Her husband works odd jobs including as a rikshaw-puller, carpenter and daily wage worker. Fighting Maijaan’s legal battle has been traumat- 22 The aim of this project, carried out by DAJI, is to empower communities at risk of statelessness to access COVID-19 relief, social protection services and legal aid. At the state level, this project aims to increase access to COVID-19 relief measures and social services for people affected by FTs level, this project aims to strengthen the RNCN that aims to campaign and advocate for the right to nationality as a human right. RNCN-DAJI are undertaking several documentation, research and advocacy efforts related to COVID-19 response, detention and FTs. These include documenting the impact of FTs in the context of COVID-19 on individuals and families through engagement with clients and their lawyers. This project is currently pioneering three different advocacy campaigns: on the child’s right to nationality, inclusive COVID-19 responses and social security and on fair and just trial procedures in the FTs. As such, the project aims to engage and advocate before different Commission and UN agencies including UNHCR and UNICEF. DAJI works with marginalised communities to empower them to realise their rights, access services and protect their freedoms. DAJI works with refugees, minorities, displaced people and people at risk of statelessness through community mobilisation, education, training and humanitarian support. Impact The RNCN/DAJI report27 on the exclusion of stateless people from COVID-19 response and social security provisions of the state has been disseminated to many national and international stakeholders. The report was launched in a webinar in February 2021. Highlights of the report were posted on RNCN social media accounts and reached over 500 followers. DAJI has further supported more than 600 families in Assam to reach out to authorities on birth registrations, particularly of children born during the pandemic, and reached out to government authorities and UNICEF in Assam to facilitate corrective steps. DAJI is also advocating for access to other social security provisions including subsidised food, pensions for the elderly and disabled persons. DAJI is currently supporting 40 stateless persons to challenge the charges against them in the FTs. Lawyers and paralegals associated with legal aid efforts have been trained and the community has been supported by them to address problems they are likely to face when challenging their exclusion from the NRC. The RNCN network is further being strengthened to include people with expertise of different disciplines related to citizenship.