86 Global Recommendations on Nationality and Statelessness in the Context of Climate Change Global Recommendations on Nationality and Statelessness in the Context of Climate Change END NOTES END NOTES 54 68 Peter J Spiro, At Home in Two Countries: The Past and Future of Dual Citizenship (NYU Press, 2016) 88. UNHCR, PMCS and Norwegian Refugee Council (n 47). 55 Julian Clifton, Greg Accioli, Helen Brunt, Wolfram Dessler, Michael Fabinyi, and Sarinda Singh, ‘Statelessness and Conservation: Exploring Implications of an International Governance Agenda’ (2014) 19 Tilburg Law Review 81–89; Justin Dargin, ‘Beyond “Green Pledges”: Saudi Arabia and Society-Centered Climate Reform’ in Climate Change and Vulnerability in the Middle East (Carnegie Endowment, 2023). 56 Such characteristics are protected by a number of international human rights instruments including ICCPR art 2; CEDAW art 2; CRC art 2; ICERD art 2; CRPD art 5. 57 Human Rights Watch, ‘An Island Jail in the Middle of the Sea’: Bangladesh’s Relocation of Rohingya Refugees to Bhasan Char (Report, 7 June 2021). 58 Human Rights Committee (HRC), General Comment No 15: The Position of Aliens under the Covenant (11 April 1986); Human Rights Committee, General Comment No 31: The Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States Parties to the Covenant (26 May 2004) UN Doc CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.13; UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, The rights of non-citizens: Final report of the Special Rapporteur, Mr. David Weissbrodt, submitted in accordance with Sub-Commission decision 2000/103, Commission resolution 2000/104 and Economic and Social Council decision 2000/283, (26 May 2003) UN Doc E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/23. 59 UNHCR Handbook (n 3) 47–49. 60 Global Action Plan (n 7) ‘Action 1: Resolve Major Situations of Statelessness.’ 61 UNHCR Handbook (n 3) 52–53. Michelle Foster, Nicola Hard, Hélène Lambert and Jane McAdam, ‘The Future of Nationality in the Pacific: Preventing Statelessness and Nationality Loss in the context of Climate Change’ (Report, PMCS, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law and University of Technology Sydney, May 2022) 29–30. 62 Bruce Burson, Walter Kälin and Jane McAdam, ‘Statehood, Human Rights and Sea-Level Rise: A Response to the International Law Commission’s Second Issues Paper on Sea-Level Rise in Relation to International Law’ (2023) 4(1) Yearbook of International Disaster Law Online 279; Foster, Hard, Lambert and McAdam (n 61); Jane McAdam and Tamara Wood, Kaldor Centre Principles on Climate Mobility (Report, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, November 2023) (‘Kaldor Principles’) principle 9 <https://www.unsw.edu.au/kaldor-centre/our-research/ climate-mobility/principles-on-climate-mobility>. 63 See generally Foster, Hard, Lambert and McAdam (n 61). ‘The Future of the Nationality in the Pacific Report’ is one of the first examples of a detailed risk assessment of laws of states in the Pacific to precisely identify risks of statelessness associated with movement of nationals from those States in the context of climate change; See also Leah Ndimurwimo and Michaela Jahnig (n 19), who provide an analysis and risk assessment of the laws and policies of three Southern African States (Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania) and how they may compound or protect against the risk of statelessness in the context of climate change. 64 Article 7(6) of the 1961 Convention stipulates that except in specific circumstances that ‘a person shall not lose the nationality of a Contracting State, if such loss would render him stateless, notwithstanding that such a loss is not expressly prohibited by any other provisions of this Convention. Under Article 7(4) of the 1961 Convention, a person may in certain limited circumstances lose nationality such that they would become stateless. Article 7(4) provides that ‘[a] naturalized person may lose his nationality on account of residence abroad for a period, not less than seven consecutive years, specified by the law of the Contracting State concerned if he fails to declare to the appropriate authority his intention to retain his nationality.’ See also, UNHCR Guidelines on Statelessness No. 5: Loss and Deprivation of Nationality under Articles 5–9 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (2020) HCR/GS/20/05, [34]; Foster, Hard, Lambert and McAdam (n 61) 17, 23–24; Kaldor Principles (n 62) principle 9. 65 In particular, the principle of non-discrimination which appears in numerous widely ratified international human rights treaties, including ICCPR (n 11) art 26, CRC (n 11) art 2, CEDAW (n 11) art 9 and ICERD (n 11) art 5. 66 UNHCR, Global Action Plan (n 7). 67 By 2018, 75% of States permitted dual nationality. Maarten Vink, Gerard-René de Groot and Peter Meerts, ‘The International Diffusion of Expatriate Dual Citizenship’ (2019) 7 Migration Studies 362. 69 Jane McAdam ‘Preserving Statehood through Population and Government: Safeguarding Nationality and Franchise in the Context of Sea-Level Rise and Mobility’ (2022) 20 New Zealand Yearbook of International Law 25. 70 UNHCR, Guidelines on Statelessness No 4: Ensuring Every Child’s Right to Acquire a Nationality through Articles 1–4 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, UN Doc HCR/ GS/12/04 (21 December 2012) 12 (‘Guidelines on Statelessness No 4’); UNICEF, Guiding Principles for Children on the Move in the Context of Climate Change (Report, 2022) 49–51, see specifically ‘Principle 9: Nationality’. 71  1961 Statelessness Convention (n 9) arts 1–4; ICCPR (n 11) art 24; CEDAW (n 11) art 9; CRC (n 11) arts 7, 8; CRPD (n 11) art 18; CPRMW (n 11) art 29. 72 CRC (n 11) art 3; UNHCR, Guidelines on Statelessness No. 4 (n 70) 3. Committee on the Rights of the Child, General comment No. 14 (2013) on the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration (art. 3, para. 1) (29 May 2013) UN Doc CRC/C/GC/14. 73 ICCPR (n 11) art 24(2); CRC (n 11) art 7(1). 74 There is no international legal definition of ‘legal identity’, however under the UN’s working definition, ‘legal identity is defined as the basic characteristics of an individual’s identity. e.g. name, sex, place and date of birth conferred through registration and the issuance of a certificate by an authorized civil registration authority following the occurrence of birth. In the absence of birth registration, legal identity may be conferred by a legally recognized identification authority. This system should be linked to the civil registration system to ensure a holistic approach to legal identity from birth to death. Legal identity is retired by the issuance of a death certificate by the civil registration authority upon registration of death.’ See: United Nations Statistics Division, ‘United Nations Legal Identity Agenda’, United Nations (Web Page) <https://unstats.un.org/legal-identityagenda/>. 75 Transparency, Accountability and Participation Network, Halfway to 2030: Report on SDG16 – A Civil Society Assessment of Progress towards Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies (Report, 2023) 45, ‘Target 16.9: By 2030, provide legal identity for all, including birth registration’. 76 GCM (n 12) objective 4. 77 GCR (n 12) [82]. 78 Kaldor Principles (n 62); Eleanor Thomas, ‘Disappearing Nations: Youth Statelessness at the Frontline of Climate Change’ (Web Page, June 2024) Environmental Migration Portal, International Organization for Migration (IOM) <https://environmentalmigration.iom.int/blogs/ dissappearing-nations-youth-statelessnessfrontline-climate-change>; Tanmoy Bhaduri, Climate Change: Hungry Tides of the Brahmaputra. The Hindu BusinessLine (Web Page, October 31 2019) <https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/shoot/climate-changehungry-tides-of-the-brahmaputra/article29843657.ece>; Chandari Sinha, ‘Climate Refugees Stripped of Citizenship in Assam’, Dialogue Earth (Web Page, 8 November 2019) <https://dialogue.earth/en/climate/ climate-refugees-stripped-of-citizenship-in-assam/>. 79 Falepili Union Treaty (n 19) between Australia and Tuvalu. For details on the Treaty’s developments see Jane McAdam, ‘Fresh Details Emerge on Australia’s New Climate Migration Visa for Tuvalu Residents’, The Conversation (online, 10 April 2024) <https://theconversation. com/fresh-details-emerge-on-australias-new-climate-migration-visa-for-tuvalu-residents-an-expertexplains-254195>; Jane McAdam, ‘“Disappearing States”, Statelessness and Relocation’ in Climate Change, Forced Migration, and International Law (Oxford University Press, 2012). 80 Zoé Briard, ‘Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union Treaty, 9 November 2023: A Groundbreaking Agreement on Climate Mobility? Let’s Stay Cautious’ (2024) No 2 Louvain Migration Case Law Commentary. 81 Radha Govil and Hannah Gordon, Submission to Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, Parliament of Australia, Inquiry into the Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union Treaty (19 April 2024) <https://www.onlinelibrary.iihl.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2024-Govil-and-GordonInquiry-into-the-Australia-Tuvalu-Falepili-Union-Treaty.pdf>; Jane McAdam, Submission on the Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union (16 April 2024) <https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore. ashx?id=05822f90-3479-4607-9c6d-8528b841834f&subId=754682>. 82 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), opened for signature 4 June 1992, 1771 UNTS 107 (entered into force 21 March 1994) art 1. 87