Until the Second World War, the grant and withdrawal of nationality was regarded as being wholly within the sovereign discretion of states. Since the Universal Declaration on Human Rights first provided for the right to a nationality in 1948, the international human rights framework has increasingly restricted that discretion.
The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons provides for the protection of stateless persons in a similar framework to that established for refugees; while the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness establishes certain basic rules to avoid statelessness at birth and in case of loss or deprivation of nationality.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, both provide for every child to have the right to acquire a nationality. In addition, all the international human rights treaties targeting various forms of discrimination mention the right to a nationality, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racism, the Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, and the Convention on the Rights of All Persons with Disabilities.
More information on the international standards and actions against statelessness can be found on the UNHCR website, including a set of important Guidelines on Statelessness and Good Practices Papers for states. In 2014, UNHCR launched the #IBelong campaign to end statelessness in ten years. The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI) manages a database of recommendations related to statelessness issued to states from the UN human rights system.
The Government of Botswana has reaffirmed its commitment to ratifying key international covenants focused on human rights, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Speaking on Friday […]
Botswana is making progress in taking pivotal steps to enhance its human rights framework. Government officials and United Nations representatives gathered on Tuesday for a national consultation on the country’s accession to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural […]
Implementation of the Global Action Plan to End Statelessness 2.0 Extracts relevant to Africa: Action 1. Resolve major situations of statelessness In May, Kenya’s parliamentary committee submitted the draft Amendment Bill to the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act to the […]
Statelessness remains a concern for the UNHCR Multi-Country Office (MCO) for Côte d’Ivoire, covering Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, and Togo, with hundreds of thousands of people (including over 900,000 in Côte d’Ivoire) estimated to be stateless or at risk. […]
Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of Chad CEDAW/C/TCD/CO/5 Extracts: Nationality 31. The Committee notes that the 2023 Constitution of Chad recognizes the equal right of women and men to confer their nationality to their children. However, it notes […]
Implementation of the Global Action Plan to End Statelessness Extracts relevant to Africa Action 1: Resolve existing major situations of statelessness In December, in Mali, with UNHCR’s support, a workshop organized by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, focused […]
Since 2012, UNHCR has issued an annual background note on gender equality in nationality laws related to the conferral of nationality on children. Nationality laws that do not grant women equal rights with men to confer nationality on their children […]
Highlights • The League of Arab States launched the Arab Declaration on Belonging and Legal Identity to address issues of conflict, displacement, and statelessness by strengthening birth registration systems and advancing legal identity rights, with a particular focus on women’s […]
GENEVA – The Republic of South Sudan has taken a major step towards eradicating statelessness in the country by acceding yesterday to two key treaties – the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention […]
Extracts relevant to Africa: • The new Global Alliance to End Statelessness, set to be officially launched on 14 October at the high-level segment on statelessness, has already garnered support and membership of over 80 entities (States, regional organizations, UN, […]
Foreword Ending statelessness within 10 years. That was the ambition when we launched the #IBelong campaign in 2014. By raising awareness and mobilizing global support around that ambition, we aimed to address a largely invisible crisis: that of millions of […]
In a first-of-its-kind event, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, together with subject matter experts Mr. Ibrahima Kane and Dr. Bronwen Manby, hosted a continental meeting to discuss next steps towards the ratification of the Protocol to the African Charter on […]