100 COLUM. J. RACE & L. [Vol. 11:83 evolution of human rights has encroached on states’ prerogatives in nationality matters.73 In the context of nationality matters, scholars tend to focus on three interfacing areas of international law where constraints are imposed on state discretion in the context of nationality matters. First, reliance is placed on the prohibition of arbitrary deprivation of nationality as a constraint on state discretion. Arbitrary deprivation of nationality generally refers to withdrawal or denial74 of nationality where such deprivation does not serve a legitimate purpose, where it does not follow the principle of proportionality, where it is discriminatory, and/or where it is otherwise incompatible with international law. 75 International and regional human rights instruments reinforce this prohibition of arbitrary deprivation of nationality.76 73 Consider also the relationship of Article 1(3) to similar exclusion/limitation clauses contained in other human rights instruments. See G.A. Res. 40/144 (XL), Declaration of Human Rights of Individuals Who Are Not Nationals of the Country in Which They Live, art. 2(1) (Dec. 13, 1985): Nothing in this Declaration should be interpreted as legitimizing the illegal entry into and presence in a State of any alien, nor shall any provision be interpreted as restricting the right of any State to promulgate laws and regulations concerning the entry of aliens and the terms and conditions of their stay or to establish differences between nationals and aliens. However, such laws and regulations shall not be incompatible with the international legal obligations of that State, including those in the field of human rights. See also 1954 Statelessness Convention, supra note 20, art. 31; Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness art. 1(2)(c), art. 4(2)(c), art. 8(3), Aug. 30, 1961, 989 U.N.T.S. 175 [hereinafter 1961 Statelessness Convention]. 74 MICHELLE FOSTER & HÉLÈNE LAMBERT, INTERNATIONAL REFUGEE LAW AND THE PROTECTION OF STATELESS PERSONS 51–52 (2019). See also LAURA VAN WAAS, NATIONALITY MATTERS: STATELESSNESS UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW 101 (2008). 75 Edwards, The Meaning of Nationality, supra note 72, at 26. See also Jorunn Brandvoll, Deprivation of Nationality, in N ATIONALITY AND STATELESSNESS UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW 194 (Alice Edwards & Laura van Waas eds., 2014). 76 See G.A. Res. 217 (III) A, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 15 (Dec. 10 1948) [hereinafter UDHR] (“No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.”); Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities art. 18(1)(a), Dec. 3, 2006, 2515 U.N.T.S. 3 [hereinafter CRPD] (stating that it is upon states parties to ensure “persons with disabilities . . . [h]ave the right to acquire and change a nationality and are not deprived of their nationality arbitrarily or on the basis of disability.”); Organization of American States, American Convention on Human Rights art. 20, Nov. 22, 1969, O.A.S.T.S No. 36, 1144 U.N.T.S. 123. (“1. Every person has the right to a nationality; 2. Every person has the right to the nationality of the state in whose territory he was born if he does not have the