II. Definitions and cross-cutting issues
— nomadic or semi-nomadic populations, whose territories cross
international borders;
— persons who have been trafficked or smuggled.
Statelessness can arise both in a migratory and non-migratory context.
The profile of stateless persons in a country may fit one or the other scenario
or be mixed. Some stateless populations in a non-migratory context remain
in their “own country” and may be referred to as in situ populations.
Throughout the text, the terms nationality and citizenship are used
interchangeably.
De jure or de facto stateless?
Persons who fall within the scope of Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention are
sometimes referred to as de jure stateless persons even though that term is
not used in the Convention itself. By contrast, reference is made in the Final
Act of the 1961 Convention to de facto stateless persons, and there is also an
implicit reference in the Final Act of the 1954 Convention.9 Unlike the term
“stateless person” as defined in Article 1(1), the term de facto statelessness
is not defined in any international instrument and there is no treaty regime
specific to this category of persons (with the recommendations in the Final
Acts being limited and non-binding in nature).10
Therefore, care must be taken from a legal point of view to ensure that
those qualifying as “stateless persons” under Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention be recognized as such. If mistakenly referred to as de facto stateless
persons, they may fail to receive the protection guaranteed under the 1954
Convention. This Handbook addresses a range of issues related to stateless
persons as defined in Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention, yet avoids qualifying them as de jure stateless persons as that term appears nowhere in the
Convention itself.
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