Everything you need to know about statelessness

It’s time to take action to protect stateless persons from arbitrary detention

The immigration detention of stateless persons is one of the silent tragedies of our globalised world that plays out behind closed doors, away from…

No nationality, no rights – Statelessness affecting Dominicans of Haitian descent

Two years ago the Dominican Constitutional Court judgement 168/13 deprived hundreds of thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent of their…

Using the UN Human Rights Special Procedures to address statelessness

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have not to date made as much use as they could of the United Nations (UN) Special Procedures to raise and…

A Generation of Syrians Born in Exile Risk a Future of Statelessness

Doctor Nazir’s pregnant wife arrived in Turkey with a one-year old and no documentation. They had fled the unbearable bombardment of their home town…

The jus sanguinis bias of Europe and what it means for childhood statelessness

Who is more Dutch: a child born to Dutch nationals in Australia (child A), or a child born to Australian nationals in the Netherlands (child B)?…

States as a root cause of statelessness

What is the root cause of statelessness? There are many answers to this question – conflict of nationality laws, gender discrimination, persecution…

Using the UPR to address statelessness

The United Nations Human Rights Council has a system of 'Universal Periodic Review' (UPR) which covers all member states of the UN.  This means that…

Jus Soli: A miraculous solution to prevent statelessness?

Granting nationality at birth to children born on the territory of a country – the “jus soli” principle – is often seen as an effective tool to…

Adding the voice of National Human Rights Institutions towards ending statelessness in Europe

‘A baby is born stateless every ten minutes’. This powerful image underlines UNHCR’s ‘I belong’ campaign, launched in November 2014, and aimed at…

Litigating Strategically: Stateless children born in the EU

Does a child born in the EU, who would have been an EU citizen had the Member State of birth complied with its international obligations, but who is…

A new, efficient way of learning about statelessness

Statelessness – a word and concept often regarded as complicated, technical and difficult. But awareness and basic understanding of statelessness…

Who are you? - Fraud, impersonation and loss of nationality without procedural protection

The UK divides persons who acquire British citizenship by fraud into two classes when seeking to secure their loss of such citizenship. Where the…