profiles of stateless persons. In the third section, the impacts of statelessness through interviews with stateless persons is analysed by a key cluster of human rights: employment, welfare, education, identity, right to liberty, access to healthcare and mental health. The last section contains a conclusion and key recommendations. The methodology used to undertake this research is provided in Annex I. 1.1 Definitions and Scope International law provides that a person is deemed stateless if no state considers him or her to be a citizen under the “operation of its law”.7 This is manifested in two ways: de jure statelessness, when no state law recognizes the person as a citizen, and de facto statelessness, when the person is, in theory, entitled to citizenship but is not recognized as such under the application of state law. Statelessness is a matter of great concern because nationality is a cornerstone principle/requirement for accessing most political and judicial processes and for claiming economic, social, and cultural rights. Statelessness affects an estimated 10 million people worldwide, and “although stateless people may sometimes also be refugees, the two categories are distinct”.8 Statelessness can occur in several ways, though there are four major reasons behind it: (1) State secession can render individuals stateless if they are unable to acquire citizenship under a new country’s legislation or administrative procedures.9 (2) Gendered nationality laws can render women and their children stateless if a woman’s nationality is linked to that of her husband or citizenship is conferred along patrilineal lines.10 (3) Discrimination can result in the arbitrary deprivation of citizenship in instances where the state either withholds or withdraws citizenship on grounds of ethnicity or religious affiliation.11 (4) Technical causes of statelessness include an individual renouncing their citizenship, a state revoking the citizenship, or when nationality cannot be acquired due to a failure to register the birth of a child. Those who arrive in Canada as stateless persons may have been rendered as such for one of one of these reasons. Statelessness has dire consequences and prevents persons from enjoying their human rights. For example, they are unable to find gainful employment, access health care, obtain identity documents, enjoy freedom of movement and they face barriers to meaningful political participation. As explained below in section 2, a number of stateless persons who 7 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. (1954). 8 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Stateless People. (2013). 9 Van Waas, L. Nationality Matters: Statelessness under International Law (Portland; Antwerp: Intersentia, 2008); Weissbrodt, D. S. The Human Rights of Non-citizens (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2008). 10 Weissbrodt, D. S. The Human Rights of Non-citizens (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2008). 11 Blitz B. K. & M. Lynch. Statelessness and Citizenship: A Comparative Study on the Benefits of Nationality (Cheltenham; Northampton: Edward Elgar, 2011). 2