foundlings and children born to stateless parents.
Without such provisions, children who are denied
the right to nationality at birth do not have legal
pathways to be granted citizenship in the future.
Citizenship stripping
Citizenship stripping, or deprivation of
nationality, are both used interchangeably to
describe situations where the withdrawal of
citizenship is initiated by the authorities of the
State leading to statelessness.28 It is an extreme
measure facilitated variously and cumulatively
by legislative measures, administrative means,
policy decisions and institutional practices at the
national level in multiple countries.29 Citizenship
deprivation can occur at time of state succession
or independence as well as a punitive measure as
a contemporary form of “banishment”.
Rohingya Project
BACKGROUND
proving ones identity and citizenship — including
place of birth and parentage — and a lack of birth
registration can lead to statelessness.31 However,
one is not to presume that merely because a
country has high rates of birth registration would
automatically signify low rates of statelessness
as birth registration alone does not equate to
citizenship in many states. While this report
includes a lack of birth registration as a cause
of statelessness more research and analysis is
needed in this area.
Stakeholders
Identified Stakeholders, covering both civil society
and academics were identified to be gathered
from three key groups:
Former SNAP members
Statelessness and climate change
This risk of statelessness from “disappearing
states” impacted by climate-induced sea level
rise currently remains a hypothetical question,
with most experts agreeing that this scenario
will not inevitably lead to statelessness. Before
any states “disappear”, the impacts of relocation
and an increase in displacement on communities
and individual’s nationality status will need to be
faced.30 It is this climate-induced displacement
across borders rather than the “disappearance” of
islands that poses the greatest risk of statelessness
in the future and that is examined in this report.
Administrative barriers
Administrative barriers, including improper
and non-implementation of laws across regions
can result in procedural hurdles in accessing or
proving nationality, and in the most extreme cases
statelessness.
Birth registration
The relationship between birth registration and
statelessness can be complex. In some countries,
birth registration functions as a prerequisite for
12
STATELESSNESS ENCYCLOPEDIA ASIA PACIFIC
Across the Asia Pacific there were over 200
individuals who were former SNAP members.
For the region, as well as each sub-region a count
was produced for the total number of relevant
members and more detailed information was
provided on the active SNAP members for the
relevant geographical area.
Current NFA partners
Since transitioning from SNAP to NFA the
organization has changed from a network to
partnership structure. Organizations currently
partnering with NFA were to identified and
included within the relevant geographical area.
Currently, NFA has seven partner organizations.
Other identified organizations and
advocates
Throughout the desk research that informed this
report a number of other organizations, including
organizations led by or comprising of persons with
lived experience of statelessness were identified.
Where relevant and notable, these organizations,
individuals and networks are included in the
report.