© UNHCR / G. Constantine / 2009 1.1 Statelessness Ukraine / Crimean Tatars were deported from Ukraine en masse from their homeland in 1944. Most later returned to Crimea and are now citizens of Ukraine. This is thanks to a series of amendments to Ukrainian law which facilitate acquisition of Ukrainian nationality by stateless persons and reduce the risk of statelessness for many Crimean Tatars who have renounced the citizenship of their former country of residence in order to acquire Ukrainian citizenship. Nationality With the world divided into States, borders have become a way of demarcating territory and nationality has become the instrument for demarcating populations. Nationality is the legal bond between a State and an individual. It is a bond of membership. Once held, nationality – membership – brings with it both rights and responsibilities: For the State and for the individual. Among the key rights of nationals are the right to return and to reside within the territory of the State and the right to participate in political processes of the State. There are of course circumstances in which these rights cannot be exercised but these are nevertheless considered to be two of the main functions of nationality. The corresponding duties of nationals reflect their allegiance to the State and may, for example, include the obligation to pay taxes or to perform military or equivalent service. States, in turn, are obliged to guarantee various rights to their nationals and may demand (certain expressions of) loyalty in return. Under international law, States are allowed to exercise jurisdiction (i.e. the power to exercise authority over a certain geographic area, persons or subject matter) over their nationals, even when they are abroad. They can for instance prosecute crimes allegedly committed by, or against, a national. Similarly, nationality may also influence jurisdiction in civil law suits and thus can determine which State’s law should be applied. Nationality is acquired or lost according to rules set by each State. These rules determine which links between the individual and the State – some kind of connection usually either with the territory (place of birth or residence) or with a national (descent or marriage) – should be reflected in the formal bond of membership. 1.2 Definition(s) of statelessness Within the realm of public international law, rules have evolved in response to the problem of statelessness. A definition has also emerged: a stateless person is a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law (sometimes referred to as de jure statelessness). This definition can be found explicitly in Article 1 of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, one of the two major international instruments that deal specifically with the issue of statelessness. Whether or not a person is stateless can be determined based on an assessment of relevant nationality laws and how these laws are implemented by the State. Since nationality is generally acquired on the basis of an existing, factual link between the individual and the State – some kind of connection either with the territory (place of birth or residence) or with a national (descent, adoption or marriage) – the task at hand is to look at the domestic nationality legislation and practice of States with which an individual enjoys a relevant factual link, to see if nationality is indeed attributed to the individual under any State’s law. If not, then he or she is stateless. 7