Statelessness

Statelessness occurs when a person is not considered a national by any state under the law. Nationality creates legal membership and access to rights such as identity documents, travel, and social services. Statelessness is not the same as being a refugee, although the two conditions can overlap.

Statelessness can arise from gaps, inconsistencies, or discrimination in nationality laws. Common causes include prohibitions on jus soli or jus sanguinis, restrictions on a woman’s ability to pass nationality to children, loss or renunciation of nationality, birth registration gaps, and changes in statehood or borders.

The lack of a reliable nationality often leaves individuals without official identity papers, limiting education, employment, health care, and freedom of movement. Stateless people may face detention or expulsion, difficulties obtaining travel documents, and uncertainty about future status for themselves and their children.

Internationally, statelessness is addressed by the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. These treaties set out rights for stateless people and encourage states to prevent and reduce statelessness, including by birth registration and fair naturalization processes.

Remedies include reforming nationality laws to avoid discrimination, improving birth registration, establishing statelessness determination procedures, and providing a clear route to naturalization. Some countries grant nationality to children born stateless or to stateless adults after a defined period.