needs to meet in order to be considered a national. Such requirements generally refer
to links a person has with the State.
The most important proof thus relates to place of birth and to parentage. These facts
are recorded through birth registration, underscoring the reason why universal birth
registration is crucial in realising the right to a nationality.6 The UN should therefore
work with States to ensure that adequate birth registration, civil registration and other
documentation systems are in place at the country level and develop national capacity
for effective public administration in this regard, thereby permitting individuals to
prove their identity and links to one or more States.
4. Respect the human rights of stateless persons and provide for their specific
protection needs
Universal human rights standards apply irrespective of possession of a nationality,
with only a very limited set of rights reserved for citizens.7 But stateless persons have
protection needs distinct from those of other non-citizens. Stateless persons require
support in areas where a State of nationality would generally take action, for instance
in relation to the issuance of identity and travel documents. Stateless persons who do
not enjoy the right to return to and reside in another State should be granted residency
and concomitant civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights and have a
realistic prospect of acquiring the State’s nationality in the future. Stateless persons
are also uniquely vulnerable to prolonged detention and States should be sensitized to
respect the rights of stateless persons to be free from arbitrary detention as a result of
their stateless status.8
A prerequisite for the protection of stateless persons is ensuring that the State can
identify who is stateless and who is not. States are encouraged to establish formalized
statelessness determination procedures with due process safeguards for individuals to
claim protection as a result of their statelessness status. This is particularly relevant in
the migratory context (i.e. where stateless individuals are outside of their country of
habitual residence).
Most stateless persons reside in the country of their birth or a successor State. But
statelessness might result in forced displacement, in particular where it results from
arbitrary deprivation of nationality, and many stateless persons do in fact cross an
international border and become refugees. When stateless persons are simultaneously
refugees, they must be treated as such and afforded the protection foreseen under
international refugee law, specifically under the 1951 Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol and the prohibition of non-refoulement in
customary international law.
The grant of leave to reside within a State and related rights to stateless persons as set
out above do not resolve their situation entirely as they are unable to enjoy rights
reserved for nationals. Consequently, these protections should be viewed as a
temporary solution until such time as the individuals concerned are able to acquire a
nationality.
6
See CRC, Article 7.
See OHCHR, The Rights of Non-citizens, 2006.
8
In this context, it is also important to note that de facto stateless persons face many of the same
protection risks faced by stateless persons. Their situation is akin to that of stateless persons in that
there is no State that will provide them with protection. Consequently, it is recommended that the
States in which they find themselves extend protection to them until such time as they are able to avail
themselves of the protection of their State of nationality.
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