Latest news feedRefugees Magazine Issue 147 ("The Excluded: The strange hidden world of the stateless") - Statelessness defined
Who are the stateless?
The term 'stateless person' means someone who is not considered as a national, according to domestic legislation, by ANY state (also known as de jure stateless). A second, loosely defined category is considered de facto stateless because they do not enjoy the rights generally enjoyed by nationals (for example their country will not grant them a passport or allow them to return) or because they are unable to prove their nationality.
What is nationality or citizenship?
The terms are not necessarily synonymous. However both are used by different countries to describe the 'legal bond' that binds together a state and the individual. It covers political, social and economic rights, as well as the responsibilities, of both government and citizen.
How is nationality granted?
Usually through the recorded birth on a country's territory, descent from another citizen or naturalization following marriage to one. Naturalization can also be granted after residence for a set length of time, or for other specific reasons. The rules vary from state to state – and the variations themselves are often the cause of statelessness.
Are refugees stateless?
They can be de jure stateless, but most are not. Groups, or individuals, are sometimes stripped of their nationality as part of the process of persecution, and then flee as refugees. Or, conversely, they are punished for fleeing by having their nationality removed. But many stateless people do not face persecution, and many refugees retain their nationality throughout their ordeal abroad.
Source: Refugees Magazine Issue 147: "The Excluded: The strange hidden world of the stateless"
(September 2007). Download the complete issue in pdf format: low-resolution (1.8 Mb) here or high-resolution (6.8 Mb) here.
