58 By-passing state power and neutralising state bureaucracies 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 power is particularly relevant to the concept of ‘statelessness’ since it operates through knowledge and discourse that shape social life. This quote is from Siegelberg (2020:6). Ratification was particularly low during the first 50 years of the convention compared to treaties of the same era (Bloom 2013). There were 49 ascensions between 2011 and 1215 following a push by UNHCR. However, as of January 2018, there were still only 89 State Parties to the 1954 Convention and 70 State Parties to the 1961 Convention (see UNHCR, “Statelessness Conventions” www.unhcr.org/uk/ un-conventions-on-statelessness.html (accessed 24/01/2018)). UNHCR has had an evolving mandate to oversee the Convention since 1961. However, this is an advisory rather than supervisory role. This has had an impact on implementation. For this reason, the Conventions have been described as ‘orphan Conventions’ (see van Waas (2014). The UN Statelessness Conventions. Nationality and Statelessness under International Law. A. Edwards and L. van Waas, Cambridge, p.74). See Bloom (2013:14). E.g. ‘The text displays the unfortunate hallmarks of an international compromise shaped by. . . tension between states’ sovereign interests in the field of nationality and the shared interest of avoiding statelessness—it stops short of prescribing obligations that will decisively eliminate statelessness in all circumstances’ van Waas (2014:75). E.g. see de Chickera (2010). International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) 1966 Article 1 (1). For more information on self-determination, see Minority Rights Group, “SelfDetermination” Available at: https://minorityrights.org/law/self-determination/ (accessed 10/11/2021). The negotiations are outlined in correspondence from British archival records collected in Tinker, H., A. Griffin and S. R. Ashton (1984). Constitutional Relations between Britain and Burma: Burma—The Struggle for Independence 1944–48, Her Majesty’s Stationary Office. The socialist character of the constitution is evident in the 1947 Constitution of the Union of Burma. Quoted in Tonkin (2018:234). International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 1 states, ‘All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.’ This is echoed in the 1961 Statelessness Convention. ‘International law had something to say about nationality, but only as a matter of order management. The early law of nationality was bounded by the interests of states vis-a-vis each other, not the interests of individuals’ (Spiro 2011: 698). In certain situation, states deprive individuals of citizenship on the basis of them being a threat to national security, for example, Shamima Begum due to her Islamic State connection. This has caused conflicts between states and arguments that individuals without nationality are a greater threat to national security. See Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (2019). Principles on the Deprivation of Nationality as a National Security Measure. See, for example, Kett (2017). This includes the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 (ICCPR), Article 24 (3) ‘every child has the right to acquire a nationality’; UN Convention of the Rights of the Child 1989 (CRC), Article 7 (1) ‘The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right. . . to acquire a nationality’; UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women 1979 (CEDAW), Article 9 (1) ‘States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men to acquire, change or retain their nationality’ and (2) ‘States