ADDRESSING STATELESSNESS THROUGH THE RULE OF LAW 1. INTRODUCTION © Brian Sokol, UNHCR 2014: Yulin, 25, and her children are stateless in the Dominican Republic. She says: “I feel Dominican because it’s the only place I’ve ever lived. I was born here and at the time I was born the constitution said that anyone born here is a Dominican.” In this issue brief, the International Development Law Organization (IDLO) and UNHCR address the intricate links between statelessness, the rule of law and sustainable development. Ensuring adherence to the rule of law is critical to resolving existing situations of statelessness and to preventing new situations from arising. The principle of the rule of law, as embedded in international human rights instruments,1 is key to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda), with its call for legal and institutional reforms, protection of rights, and legal empowerment of the most vulnerable and excluded. In a world order based on State sovereignty, an individual’s legal identity is expressed through the legal bond of nationality. Statelessness (i.e., not being considered as a national 4 by any State under the operation of its law) is therefore an anomaly and undermines the rule of law 2 due to both its causes and consequences. It often arises from discrimination and arbitrary laws or practices and prevents stateless persons from enjoying full equality under the law in any country. Statelessness results in widespread denial of human rights and it undermines the universal human right to a nationality.3 Statelessness can inflict a lifetime of hardship, extend across generations, and plunge whole communities into situations of protracted humanitarian crisis. Statelessness has the potential to lead to underdevelopment and to exacerbate underprivilege, exclusion and marginalisation that are often the hallmarks of conflict and displacement. The issue brief stresses that, by upholding the rule of law, States can unlock lasting solutions to the anomaly of statelessness and dramatically improve the lives and futures of stateless people and the societies in which they live. It concludes with a set of recommendations for policymakers, focusing on: 1. Equality before the law and nondiscrimination 2. Compliance with international human rights norms and standards 3. Legal empowerment and access to justice 4. Inclusive and participatory system of governance