Context
Statelessness, which impacts millions unnoticed around the globe, means the loss of one’s nationality and the vital rights that are linked to this. The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons describes a stateless person as someone “not accepted as a national by any State according to its law.” Statelessness can be a situation a person is born into, or it can arise due to a variety of political, legal, and social situations. It takes away an individual’s basic human rights, leaving them prone to discrimination, poverty, and being taken advantage of. Absence of citizenship increases the risk of stateless individuals being subjected to forced labor, trafficking, and violence.
Key statistics
- As of the end of 2022, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that 4.4 million stateless individuals were documented globally across 95 countries, most of them in Asia. However, the actual number is estimated to be closer to 10 million due to underreporting.
- Over 75% of the world’s known stateless populations belong to minority groups.
- UNICEF data shows that 1 in 4 children under the age of 5 are not registered at birth, leaving 237 million children worldwide at risk of statelessness. The absence of birth registration, a major risk factor, obstructs children’s access to education, healthcare, and social services and can set the stage for a lifetime of marginalization.
Glaring cases of discrimination
Discrimination, particularly against ethnic, religious, and linguistic minorities, is a leading contributor to statelessness. Policies that systematically exclude groups such as the Rohingya in Myanmar and Kurds in Asia demonstrate how systemic prejudice can precede statelessness.
The Rohingya, who make up one of the biggest stateless groups globally, have been refused nationality since 1982. Systematic oppression, including restrictions on mobility, access to education, and healthcare services, has forced nearly one million Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh and many others to Malaysia, sparking a continuing humanitarian disaster. Over 600,000 Rohingya still live in Myanmar.
An estimated 250,000 Faili Kurds in Iraq were stripped of their nationality under Saddam Hussein’s regime in the 1980s. Another 120,000 Kurds were left stateless in Syria in 1962. Although both Iraq and Syria have endeavored to restore citizenship, many continue to be stateless, facing obstacles to reintegration and the restoration of rights.
Stateless people in Europe and the USA
In Europe, over 500,000 people are stateless, including tens of thousands of Roma. The Syrian conflict and the war in Ukraine have displaced millions, including many who are stateless. Between 2012 and 2022, more than 70,000 stateless people sought asylum in the EU, with at least 100,000 additional asylum seekers registered as being “nationality unknown”.
The USA shelters an estimated 218,000 of stateless people or those potentially at risk of statelessness. These are said to experience “prolonged or multiple periods of detention, perpetual reporting requirements, difficulty retaining employment, indefinite family separation, and lack of access to identity documentation or bank accounts”.
Global legal framework
The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness offer the legal basis for protecting stateless individuals and averting statelessness. As of 2022, 99 countries were parties to the 1954 Convention, and 81 had ratified the 1961 Convention. These conventions underscore the right to a nationality, safeguard against statelessness at birth, and provide routes to naturalization.
Concluding its 10-year-long campaign, #IBelong, the UNHCR announced that between 2014 and 2024, half a million stateless people around the world had acquired citizenship.
Five essential steps to be taken
1. Bolstering legal frameworks
It is imperative for governments to introduce comprehensive legal frameworks that recognize, protect, and integrate stateless persons. By 2022, only 21 countries globally had established dedicated statelessness determination procedures, indicating significant room for improvement.
2. Encouraging birth registration
Preventing statelessness fundamentally requires universal birth registration. Investments in digital systems, particularly in regions with limited services, can help to ensure that every child’s legal identity is established at birth. UNICEF and UNHCR efforts in Central Asia have highlighted the transformative impact of birth registration reforms, such as e-registration in Thailand which links hospital records to civil registration systems, reducing the risk of childhood statelessness.
3. Addressing discrimination
Resolving statelessness necessitates addressing systemic discrimination. For instance, gender-discriminatory nationality laws, present in 25 countries, prevent mothers from passing citizenship to their children. Reforming such laws is vital to break the cycle of inherited statelessness.
4. Improving data collection
UNHCR estimates the global stateless population to be at least 10 million although only 4.4 million are officially documented. Collaborations between governments, UN agencies, and NGOs can improve data collection and analysis thus contributing to more effective strategies to address statelessness.
