COMMENTARY
COMMENT ON THE ZHAO CASE: CAN A ‘VICTORY FOR
HUMAN RIGHTS’ IN THE NETHERLANDS BENEFIT
CHILDREN AT RISK OF STATELESSNESS IN THE MIDDLE
EAST AND NORTH AFRICA?
YOANA KUZMOVA* AND THOMAS MCGEE**†
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Legal and Policy Background on Statelessness in the MENA ............................ 148
A The Obstacles to Invoking Zhao in the MENA....................................... 148
B Opportunities for Strategic Advocacy and Litigation.............................. 151
Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 153
In Zhao v the Netherlands, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (‘HRC’)
addressed situations where a party to the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (‘ICCPR’) failed to provide, in an expeditious manner, nationality
determination for a child born on the territory.1 The HRC found that, in this
context, the state’s failure to make a timely determination of the child’s nationality
(or statelessness) violated the child’s right to acquire a nationality under art 24(3)
*
**
†
1
Visiting Assistant Professor and Interim Director, International Human Rights Clinic, Boston
University School of Law; Steering Committee member, MENA Statelessness Network
(Hawiati).
PhD researcher, Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Melbourne Law School; CoCoordinator, MENA Statelessness Network (Hawiati).
This commentary developed out of a workshop held by the MENA Statelessness Network
(Hawiati) on 9 June 2021. The authors thank Laura Bingham (Temple University Beasley
School of Law) and Professor Hélène Tigroudja (Member of the Human Rights Committee)
for their generous engagement in this discussion and for their input on the implications for
advocates working on statelessness in the Middle East and North Africa (‘MENA’) region.
The authors are also grateful to Marlotte van Dael (ASKV Refugee Support) for clarifications
on the Dutch context.
United Nations Human Rights Committee, Views Adopted by the Committee under Article
5(4) of the Optional Protocol, concerning Communication No 2918/2016, UN Doc
CCPR/C/130/D/2918/2016 (20 January 2021) (‘Zhao v the Netherlands’).