Statelessness

Refworld contains a wealth of documents related to statelessness, including legal, policy and background information. This "Special Feature" on statelessness is regularly maintained and contains legal, policy and operational material.

• Legal Documents Related to Statelessness
• Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, 28 September 1954
• Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 30 August 1961
• Travaux Préparatoires of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness
• Calls for accession to the statelessness conventions by the UN General Assembly and international and regional bodies, June 2010 (French) (Spanish)
• General Assembly resolutions on UNHCR and Statelessness, updated July 2010
• Extracts of selected General Comments and Recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies relating to nationality and statelessness, November 2009
• Commission on Human Rights resolutions on arbitrary deprivation of nationality (until 2006)
• Human Rights Council resolutions on arbitrary deprivation of nationality (from 2006)
• Council of Europe: Council of Europe Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in Relation to State Succession, 15 March 2006
• Council of Europe: European Convention on Nationality, 6 November 1997
• Council of Europe: Recommendations related to nationality and statelessness
• Council of Europe: Committee of Ministers, Recommendation CM/Rec(2009)13 and explanatory memorandum of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the nationality of children, 9 December 2009
• Council of Europe: Committee of Ministers, Recommendation R (1999) 18 of the Committee of Ministers to Member States on the Avoidance and Reduction of Statelessness, 15 September 1999
• Convention No. 13 to Reduce the Number of Cases of Statelessness, International Commission on Civil Status, 13 September 1973
• International Law Commission Draft Articles on Nationality of Natural Persons in relation to the Succession of States, 3 April 1999
• National legislation relating to statelessness, citizenship and nationality
• Case law related to nationality and statelessness

• Statelessness Policy and Doctrine
• Human rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality : report of the Secretary-General , UN Human Rights Council, 19 December 2011
• Climate Change and the Risk of Statelessness: The Situation of Low-lying Island States, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, May 2011
• Interpreting the 1961 Statelessness Convention and Preventing Statelessness among Children: Summary Conclusions, September 2011
• UN Secretary-General (UNSG), Guidance Note of the Secretary General: The United Nations and Statelessness, June 2011
• Expert Meeting - Statelessness Determination Procedures and the Status of Stateless Persons (Summary Conclusions), December 2010
• Expert Meeting - The Concept of Stateless Persons under International Law (Summary Conclusions), May 2010
• UNHCR and De Facto Statelessness, April 2010
• Climate Change and Statelessness: A Overview, 20 May 2009
• Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. Its History and Interpretation, commentary by Nehemiah Robinson (Institute of Jewish Affairs, World Jewish Congress), 1955 (re-printed by the Division of International Protection, 1997)
• The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons: Implementation within the European Union Member States and Recommendations for Harmonisation, October 2003
• Human rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality: report of the Secretary-General, December 2009
• Final Report Concerning the Questionnaire on Statelessness Pursuant to the Agenda for Protection. Steps taken by States to Reduce Statelessness and to Meet the Protection Needs of Stateless Persons, March 2004

• UNHCR ExCom and Standing Committee
• All Progress reports on UNHCR's statelessness activities
• Birth Registration: A Topic Proposed for an Executive Committee Conclusion on International Protection, 9 February 2010
• Executive Committee Conclusion No. 106 (LVI), 2006, Identification, Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness and Protection of Stateless Persons, 6 October 2006 (in French)
• Executive Committee Conclusion No. 78 (XLVI), 1995, Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness and Protection of Stateless Persons, 20 October 1995 (in French)
• Other Executive Committee Conclusions related to Statelessness, updated July 2010

• Other Documents Related to Statelessness
• All reports relating to statelessness by all sources

• Country-Specific Situations
• UNHCR and CRTD.A Regional Dialogue on Gender Equality, Nationality and Statelessness : Overview and Key Findings, January 2012
• Mapping Statelessness in the United Kingdom, 22 November 2011
• Mapping Statelessness in the Netherlands, November 2011
• Regional Expert Roundtable on Good Practices for the Identification, Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness and the Protection of Stateless Persons in South East Asia, 2 March 2011
• Good Practices: Addressing Statelessness in South East Asia, 5 February 2011
• Sudan Citizenship Symposium - Keynote Address by Ms. Erika Feller, Assistant High Commissioner - Protection, UNHCR, November 2010,
• Meeting Report: Regional Expert Meeting on the Human Rights of Stateless Persons in the Middle East and North Africa (Amman, 18-19 February 2010), UNHCR & OHCHR, November 2010
• The situation of stateless persons in the Middle East and North Africa, UNHCR, October 2010
• Overview of Statelessness: International and Japanese Context, April 2010,
• A Place to Call Home: The Situation of Stateless Persons in the Kyrgyz Republic, 2009
• Other regional and country studies and reports

• Tools
• Nationality & Statelessness. A Handbook for Parliamentarians, UNHCR/Inter-Parliamentary Union, 20 October 2005 (updated August 2008) (in French)
• Statelessness: An Analytical Framework for Prevention, Reduction and Protection, 2008
• Preventing and Reducing Statelessness: The 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, September 2010
• Protecting the Rights of Stateless Persons: The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, September 2010
• A Guide to Teaching on Statelessness, September 2010
• Self-Study Module 1: An Introduction to International Protection. Protecting Persons of Concern to UNHCR, 1 August 2005 (in French)
• Parties to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, As of 1st January 2011, 1 October 2011

• Related UNHCR Links
• Statelessness: Who is stateless?
• UN Conventions on Statelessness (including Lists of States Parties, Reservations and Declarations, and Maps of States Parties
• Refugee Magazine Issue 147: The Excluded, September 2007
• UNHCR news on statelessness
• UNHCR Statistical Online Population Database

• Related Internet Links
• International Law Commission (ILC): Analytical Guide, Nationality including Statelessness
• International Law Commission (ILC): Analytical Guide, Nationality in relation to the Succession of States
• Council of Europe: Nationality
• EUDO Citizenship Observatory
• The Equal Rights Trust (ERT), Unravelling Anomaly: Detention, Discrimination and the Protection Needs of Stateless Persons, 19 July 2010
• LegislationOnline.org: Citizenship
• Forced Migration Review Issue 32 on Statelessness
• International Observatory on Statelessness
• Open Society Justice and Equality Citizenship
• Photographer Greg Constantine
• UN Audiovisual Library of International Law: Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons