Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Submitted By:
Himanshu Kunjam
B.A. LL.B (HONOURS) Student
Semester IV, Section C, Roll No: 60
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I feel elated to work on the project Theory of Statelessness with Reference to Individual in
International law .This research paper could not have been completed without the help of
my Public International Law Faculty Guide, Md. Atif Khan. His constant guidance and
suggestions regarding the format and subject matter regarding the project has been very
helpful. I take this opportunity to also thank the University and the Vice Chancellor for
providing extensive database resources in the Library and through Internet.
Lastly, I thank my dear parents,brother for their constant encouragement without whom this
work would not have been possible.
Himanshu kunjam
Roll No. 60
Section C Semester IV
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...............................................................2
CONTENTS................................................................................ 3
INTRODUCTION.........................................................................4
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE................................................................6
LITERATURE BOOKS AND ARTICLES.............................................6
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY........................................................7
SOURCES OF DATA....................................................................7
RESEARCH QUESTION................................................................7
HYPOTHESIS.............................................................................7
MODE OF CITATION....................................................................8
SCOPE AND LIMITATION.............................................................8
STATELESSNESS UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW...........................10
IMPACT OF STATELESSNESS......................................................11
EFFECT OF STATELESSNESS......................................................12
EUROPEAN UNION AND THE STEPS TAKEN.................................16
STEPS TAKEN BY EUROPEAN UNION TO CURB THE MENACE........17
CONCLUSION...........................................................................22
BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................23
INTRODUCTION
A stateless society is a society that is not governed by a state, or, especially in
common American English, has no government. In stateless societies, there is little
concentration of authority; most positions of authority that do exist are very limited
in power and are generally not permanently-held positions; and social bodies that resolve
disputes through predefined rules tend to be small. Stateless societies are highly variable in
economic organization and cultural practices.1
While stateless societies were probably the norm in human prehistory, few stateless
societies exist today; almost the entire global population resides within the jurisdiction of a
sovereign state. In some regions nominal state authorities may be very weak and wield little
or no actual power. Over the course of history most stateless peoples have been integrated
into the state-based societies around them.
What a stateless society is ultimately depends upon what are held to be the
characteristics of the state. Thus, a stateless society is one that has no specialized political
roles, let alone institutionalized political structures composed of a plurality of roles. By
specialized it means formal, named, and recognized roles that are played by specialists, not
by any or every full member of the society. A specialist is also, properly speaking, full-time.
However, this is ambiguous, since the conventional (though highly variable) full-time
working day is specific only to industrial societies. Stateless societies do not differentiate
between working and leisure hours in this way. Specialization also implies special
qualificationstraining for achieved roles or inherent qualities for ascribed positions.
Specialists are at least mainly and most importantly involved in the concerns associated with
their specialization, and they are publicly held to be so.
Stateless society may be grouped under five very general headings.
(1) Stateless societies are multipolities.
(2) Ritual super-integration is achieved in diverse ways beyond the level of the political
community.
1www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Stateless_Society.aspx
4
Individual denotes a single person as distinguished from a group or class, and also,
very commonly, a private or natural person as distinguished from a partnership, corporation,
or association.2
However, an individual in a stateless society is also termed as stateless person, which is
defined as someone who is not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its
law; he or she has no citizenship or nationality.3
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The secondary data available regarding the status of the stateless persons have been discussed
and analysed. A doctrinal method for research has been adopted. Both primary and secondary
sources of data have been used.
SOURCES OF DATA
Secondary sources have been mainly used for making this project such as books, articles, and
internet websites.
RESEARCH QUESTION
1. What is the meaning of statelessness and its different types?
2. What are the mechanisms of operation of statelessness?
3. What are the problems faced by stateless persons and the remedial measures for it?
HYPOTHESIS
There is a dearth among the stateless populations across the world of realization of their right
to a nationality.
MODE OF CITATION
The 19th edition of the Bluebook has been used for standard formatting uniformly throughout
the project.
4UnitedNationsConventionontheReductionofStatelessness,U.N.T.S.989,1961
10
IMPACT OF STATELESSNESS
Human rights are those rights, which are to be enjoyed by all of us, by virtue of our belonging
to the human race and in accordance with human dignity. However, without any nationality, a
number of rights are immediately out of reach even according to the mechanics of
contemporary human rights law.
Stateless people do not have access to most civil and political rights. These include
recognition as a person before the law; equality before the law; liberty of movement and
residence; birth registration and nationality; and importantly, the right and opportunity to
take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
To vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal and equal
suffrage and to have access, on general terms of equality, to public service in his or her
country.7
The second major challenge faced by stateless people according to the NGO discourse is that
of identity formation and recognition. Stateless people completely lack any legal identity.
5http://www.unhcr.org/statistics/mid2013stats.zip.
6http://www.unrwa.org/userfiles/20121119101833.pdf.O
7UnitedNationsGeneralAssembly.InternationalCovenantonCivilandPoliticalRights.Articles16,26,12,24
and25respectively.
11
A country in which a whole community has been excluded, disenfranchised, stigmatized and
perhaps even vilified through the denial of nationality may face social tensions that affect
both the stateless and citizens alike. Mounting tensions between the in group and those
portrayed as outsiders can also fuel conflict. Where conflict arises or where the stateless face
such severe restrictions or violations of their fundamental rights that they are forced to seek
sanctuary elsewhere, their displacement becomes a concern for the receiving country and the
international community as a whole.8
EFFECT OF STATELESSNESS
A stateless individual faces a lot of problem and thus the phase of being stateless affects a lot
of different aspects of Public International Law.
Some of them are as follows:
People:
Stateless persons are among the worlds most vulnerable. Statelesspersons are deemed and
treated as foreigners mostly unwanted byevery country in the world, including the
country in which they wereborn, the country of their ancestors, the country of their
residence,the country they happen to find themselves in today and the countrythey find
themselves expelled to tomorrow. Stateless persons face anextreme form of exclusion that
impacts both their sense of dignity andidentity, and their ability to exercise even the most
basic human rights,like the right to education, the right to work, the right to health andthe
right to marry. The marginalization and discrimination that groupssuch as ethnic minorities,
indigenous peoples, migrants or displacedpeople all face becomes that much greater and
more entrenched whenit is compounded by statelessness.
8http://www.institutesi.org/worldsstateless.pdf accessed on 11th Feb, 2016.
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Human Rights:
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights so opens the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
Thecontemporary human rights framework is premised on notions.
The human rights system recognizes that states may reserve some rights for their citizens
suchas the right to participate in government placing these out of reach for
stateless people. So until statelessness is eradicated, the fundamentalaspiration of universal
human rights remains just that, an aspiration.Moreover, in practice, statelessness is a proven
barrier to the ability to exercise a wide range of other rights. Far greater effort is neededto
ensure that these barriers are overcome and stateless people haveaccess to the protection of
national and international human rightslaw.
Children:
Many of the worlds stateless persons are actually children. In fact, inevery region of the
world, children are born into statelessness everyday. Some children inherit this status from
their stateless parents, creating an intergenerational problem. Others simply arent able
toacquire their parents or any other nationality due to discriminatorylaws and policies (such
as laws which do not allow women to confernationality to their children) or the failure to of
governments to includeor properly implement the few simple safeguards that should be
foundin every nationality law to prevent childhood statelessness. Without anationality, can
have difficulty exercising their rights, become outcastsin their own country, struggle to feel
like they belong and grow up
to be disenfranchised and excluded adults.
Democracy:
Nationality is the gateway to political participation. Stateless personscannot vote, stand for
election or effectuate change through regularpolitical channels. Their statelessness suppresses
their voices andrenders their opinions obsolete. In countries with large statelesspopulations,
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contribute to attitudes of suspicion and discrimination. This may cause a dangerous build-up
of tension within and between communities that may lead to conflict. Disenfranchised,
discriminated against and excluded, some stateless persons can also be more susceptible to
the negative influence of extremists who prey on desperation. On the other hand, disputes
surrounding nationality, membership, belonging and entitlement can also hamper peacebuilding efforts.
Size:
Many millions of people are affected by statelessness around the world today. UNHCR
estimates that there are at least 10 million stateless persons, while further desk research
conducted for this report suggests that the true number likely surpasses 15 million. That
number does not include the many more who feel the impact of statelessness, for instance
because a close family member lacks any nationality. There are enough stateless people to
create a medium-sized country: at 15 million stateless persons, such a country would have the
70th largest population in the world9 although this is not suggested as a solution.10
9https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/theworldfactbook/rankorder/2119rank.html.
10http://www.institutesi.org/whystatelessnessmatters.pdf accessed on 12th Feb, 2016.
15
11http://refworld.org/docid/4eef65da2.htm
16
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research processes and/or meetings, including those carried out by UNHCR in for
instance Central Asia, South East Asia and the Middle East and North Africa; and by
the European Network on Statelessness and the WEBLAN in the Western Balkans
(under the EU-funded Best Practices for Roma Integration project); 15 and by the EUs
Eastern Partnership Panel on Migration and Asylum for the countries of Eastern
Europe and the Southern Caucasus.
7. Speaking out on situations of statelessness that are of urgent concern:
The EU can call attention to situations concerning serious and urgent human rights
problems through various channels. In February 2014, EU High Representative for
Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton issued a statement regarding the mass deprivation of
nationality of persons of Haitian descent by the Dominican Republic that has left over
200,000 people stateless. She called for the rapid implementation of necessary
measures to protect the rights of persons of Haitian descent. Catherine Ashton has
also issued several statements on the situation of the Rohingya in Myanmar, in
response to the violence targeting this stateless population in 2012 and 2013. The
European Parliament has adopted a number of resolutions that touch on statelessness,
including on the United Arab Emirates in October 2012, Bahrain in January 2013 and
Myanmar in June 2013.16
8. Raising issues of statelessness within multilateral forum:
The EU has tabled a number of human rights resolutions and supported many more
in which concern is expressed about issues of statelessness. The Human Rights
Council resolutions on Myanmar tabled by the EU in 2012, 2013 and 2014 all call
upon the government to take steps to resolve the situation of the stateless Rohingya
minority. Besides resolutions, statements issued in multilateral forum have sometimes
also made mention of statelessness, such as the EU Statement to the United Nations
under GA Third Committee Item: Report of the UNHCR, in November 2012. Then,
the EU pointed out that despite the best efforts of the international community and
UNHCR the number of refugees, internally displaced and stateless persons remains
alarmingly high and many stateless persons live in extreme poverty and are denied
basic rights and services such as access to education and health care.
16Resolution 2013/2669(RSP)
19
EU member states have also been among those which have raised questions or put
forward recommendations regarding statelessness issues to different countries within
the context of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process.
9. Hearings on statelessness issues within the European Parliament:
It can be important not just to call attention to a particular human rights issue in
multilateral forum, but also to raise awareness within EU institutions to enable these
to respond more effectively. The European Parliament, in particular, organises
hearings and discussions on a wide range of human rights topics in order to inform its
work.
This overview of activities through which the EU has supported the fight against
statelessness in its external action demonstrates a number of important points which
will can help to direct how the EU can further contribute in future. Firstly, the EU has
engaged on statelessness through both what could be broadly described as advocacy
and awareness-raising initiatives (resolutions, hearings, etc) and through financial
support to relevant projects (research, provision of services, etc). Secondly, EU
interest in statelessness stretches from initiatives relating to the promotion and
protection of the fundamental rights of persons who are currently stateless (e.g.
supporting alternative education programmes or condemning severe human rights
violations) to those that address the prevention and reduction of cases of statelessness
(e.g. speaking out against arbitrary deprivation of nationality or promoting gender
equality in nationality laws). The latter is of particular interest as it demonstrates the
EUs willingness to engage in an area of law that is often considered to be politically
sensitive and is traditionally closely guarded by states as a sovereign matter. Thirdly,
the issues on which the EU has taken action in relation to situations of statelessness or
the avoidance of statelessness reflect its overall stated human rights priorities. Thus,
there is engagement in relation to the nexus between statelessness and childrens
rights (e.g. birth registration, education for stateless children), women / gender
equality (e.g. in Lebanon and Viet Nam examples above) and the treatment of
minorities or freedom of religion (e.g. Rohingya). Linking EU engagement on
statelessness to its central human rights priorities is a natural, legitimate and likely
efficient way in which to shape the EUs approach to this issue, which is a
consideration to keep in mind when exploring how the EU can expand its role in the
fight against statelessness. Finally, it can be noted that beyond this observation that
20
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CONCLUSION
One way to ensure that stateless persons realize their right to a nationality, as enunciated in
Article 15 of the Universal Declaration, is through the doctrine of the genuine and effective
link. According to this doctrine, a person should be eligible to receive citizenship from states
with which she or he has a substantial connection or a genuine and effective link. At the very
least, a person should be eligible for the citizenship of the country with which she or he has
the closest link or connection. A substantial link or connection to a state can be forged by, for
example, long-term habitation in a state without a more substantial link to another state,
descent from a state's citizen, birth within a state's territory, or citizenship in a country's
former federal state.
Indeed, there is hardly a person without a genuine and substantial link to a state. As a
practical matter, however, a sovereign state has the right to determine who receives its
citizenship. This right, however, should be congruent with relevant international standards
and laws. At a minimum, these standards prohibit states from rendering their citizens
stateless, oblige states to respect the human rights of stateless persons, and obligate states to
grant citizenship to all children born within state borders.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS
22
Society
Institute),
available
at
www2.soros.org/fmp2/html/build_intro.html .
2. Carol A. Batchelor, Stateless Persons: Some Gaps in International
3.
available
at
http://uscis.gov/
graphics/services/natz/citizen.htm.
5. Moch N. Kurniawan & Berni K. Moestafa, Citizenship Bill Maintains
Institutionalized Racism, Jakarta Post, 6 Feb. 2003.
6. Zama Coursen-Neff, Living in Limbo: Burmese Rohingyas in Malaysia
(2000), available at www.hrw.org/reports/ 2000/malaysia/ .
7. Sri Lanka Grants Citizenship to More than 168,000 Stateless Tamils,
BBC Worldwide Monitoring, 7 Oct. 2003.
8. "Stateless" Ethnic Chinese To Receive Indonesian Citizenship, Beijing
Xinhua, 27 July 2000.
9. Amnesty International, The Role of Civil Society: Role of NGOs,
available at web.amnesty.org/web/web.nsf/print/treaty-ngo-eng.
WEBSITES
1.
2.
3.
4.
www.unhcr.ch
www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=1109&archiv=1.
www.eubusiness.com/Latvia/
web.amnesty.org/web/
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