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What is Statelessness?
To be stateless is to be without nationality or citizenship. The legal bond between a state and an individual has ceased to exist. Stateless people face numerous difficulties in their daily lives: they can lack access to health care, education, property rights and the ability to move freely. They are also vulnerable to arbitrary treatment and crimes like trafficking. Their marginalization can create tensions in society and lead to instability at an international level, including, in extreme cases, conflict and displacement.
There are two kinds of statelessness: de jure and de facto. De jure stateless people are not considered as nationals under the laws of any country. However, there are also cases where a person formally possesses a nationality, but the nationality is ineffective. This situation is called de facto statelessness. A good example of this is when a person is in practice denied rights which are enjoyed by all nationals, such as the right to return to the country and reside there. The line between de jure and de facto statelessness may be hard to establish. Millions around the world are trapped in this legal limbo.
Important causes of statelessness are discrimination and gaps in nationality legislation
Progress reports on UNHCR's statelessness activities
- Progress Report on Statelessness 2009
- Statelessness: Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness and Protection of Stateless Persons
- UNHCR's activities in the field of statelessness: progress report
- Panel Discussion: 50th Anniversary of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons
- UNHCR's Activities in the Field of Statelessness: Progress Report