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1. Progress in Ending Statelessness in Europe

Author:
Sam Mosallai
Publication Date:
04-2025
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Baku Dialogues
Institution:
ADA University
Abstract:
Europe is home to almost 500,000 stateless people or people with undetermined nationality, mainly due to the dissolution of the former Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia over three decades ago. Other causes of statelessness in Europe include the lack of safeguards to prevent children from being born stateless, gaps in universal birth registration, and, to a lesser extent, the deprivation of nationality as a counterterrorism measure. Many Roma, particularly those residing in Southeastern Europe, are stateless or at risk of statelessness due to persistent discrimination against them. Additionally, due to the lack of dedicated statelessness determination procedures found in many countries in Europe, many stateless migrants cannot enjoy the rights to which they are entitled under international law.
Topic:
Discrimination, Nationality, and Statelessness
Political Geography:
Europe

2. A Region without Statelessness?: How Central Asia Proved It Is Possible

Author:
Sergiu Gaina
Publication Date:
04-2025
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Baku Dialogues
Institution:
ADA University
Abstract:
Imagine living in the country where you were born but never having the right to call it home. No passport, no identity document, no access to education, healthcare, or legal employment. Every visit to a government office ends the same way: “We have no record of you.” For hundreds of thousands of people in Central Asia, this was their reality. Statelessness—where a person is not recognized as a national (citizen) by any country—left them in limbo, unable to fully participate in society. It meant exclusion from essential services, vulnerability to exploitation, and a life spent on the margins, with no clear path to change. But things have changed. Over the past decade or so, Central Asia has led the world in ending statelessness. The region has solved one‑third of all statelessness cases globally—a clear demonstration that with sufficient political will and strategic action, this problem can be eradicated. Since 2014, more than 220,000 formerly stateless people in Central Asia have acquired nationality (citizenship), making it one of the most successful regions in the world in reducing stateless populations.
Topic:
Citizenship, Services, Nationality, and Statelessness
Political Geography:
Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan

3. Nationality and the Right to Enter: Assessing the Impact of Refusal of Entry for the Purpose of Statelessness Determination

Author:
Cecilia Manzotti
Publication Date:
02-2024
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Statelessness & Citizenship Review
Institution:
Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Melbourne Law School
Abstract:
This article considers the legal situation of migrants, including rejected asylum seekers, who are unable to enter what was, until then, regarded as their country of nationality. This is because that country, without explicitly disputing their nationality, either prohibits their entry or de facto prevents them from entering its territory by failing to issue travel documents or respond to requests for consular assistance for organising return. By examining the conceptualisation of nationality in international law on the one hand, and the international legal definition of a stateless person on the other hand, the article argues that the right to enter the territory of one’s state is so essential to the concept of nationality that refusal of entry and denial of consular assistance for arranging return should be regarded as evidence that the state does not consider a person as its national. Based on this argument, the article further assesses the suitability of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ guidance on statelessness determination in cases of direct or indirect denial of entry. Ultimately, this contribution aims to clarify the scope of the international legal definition of a stateless person by strongly grounding its interpretation in the conceptualisation of nationality in international law.
Topic:
Nationality, Migrants, Right of Entry, Refusal of Entry, Statelessness, and Asylum Seekers
Political Geography:
Global Focus

4. Reconfiguration of Citizenship Beyond State Boundaries in Rojava

Author:
Atefeh Ramsari
Publication Date:
02-2024
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Statelessness & Citizenship Review
Institution:
Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Melbourne Law School
Abstract:
This paper seeks to investigate different modes of practicing citizenship in two political settings. One, in which an ethno-national state sets boundaries of membership and excludes some groups accordingly. The other, a democratic confederal system where neither state nor ethnic boundaries play a role in the configuration of citizenship. This empirical study looks at the individual perceptions and experiences of membership by stateless persons living in Rojava before and after the establishment of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. The stateless Kurds in the north of Syria, in the time of the Ba’ath government, had limited access to resources and their social life was restricted. When northern Syria (‘Rojava’) went through fundamental institution-building to implement democratic self-administration and confederalism, the conceptualisation of citizenship changed within the context of reclaiming power from the State. This is understood as a transformation from people as state objects into active actors. My discussion here focuses on how the stateless groups develop a sense of belonging, reposition the political demands and arrange social engagement horizontally. An important issue emerging from the findings is that daily membership experiences are remarkably associated with active voluntary participation in the organisation of the community. In the self-organising system, regardless of the precarious legal status the persons are holding, citizenship content and consequences in daily life are more inclusionary and egalitarian.
Topic:
Citizenship, Kurds, Belonging, Statelessness, Rojava, and Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES)
Political Geography:
Middle East and Syria

5. Getting Statelessness Published: Pathways to Publication for Early Career Researchers in the Field of Statelessness Studies

Author:
Barbara von Rütte
Publication Date:
02-2024
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Statelessness & Citizenship Review
Institution:
Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Melbourne Law School
Abstract:
In Hungary, four legislations regulating citizenship-related issues in detail had been enacted starting from the second half of the 19th century. The Hungarian legislation recognises the legal status of statelessness and the concept of a stateless person. Hungary has ratified both the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons(‘1954 Convention’)1 and the 1961 Conventionon the Reduction of Statelessness (‘1961 Convention’).2 Consequently, there was an intention to find a solution for persons who submit an application for stateless status in its territory. In this commentary, I introduce the Hungarian citizenship legislation in force, particularly focusing on the articles concerning the acquisition of Hungarian citizenship and how these relate to statelessness. I examine whether statelessness is adequately addressed in the legislation governing the acquisition of Hungarian citizenship and whether the legislation in force is able to provide appropriate safeguards in order to prevent statelessness, especially childhood statelessness. Comprehensive analysis regarding this matter is currently lacking. I argue that the situation in Hungary could be viewed as a ‘glass half empty’, as the citizenship legislation does provide some safeguards against statelessness, but significant flaws remain in the legislation regarding the prevention of statelessness, especially childhood statelessness. The National Assembly should address these gaps toenable Hungary to fulfil its international obligations under the 1961 Conventionto prevent and eradicate childhood statelessness. This commentary only focuses on the examination of the citizenship law and its safeguards against statelessness. I do not extend the analysis to the Hungarian statelessness determination procedure.
Topic:
Citizenship, Naturalization, Legislation, Statelessness, and Hungarian Citizenship Act
Political Geography:
Europe and Hungary

6. Statelessness Before the ICJ: The Gambia v Myanmar

Author:
Jade Roberts
Publication Date:
02-2024
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Statelessness & Citizenship Review
Institution:
Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Melbourne Law School
Abstract:
The ongoing proceedings in Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v Myanmar)1have been recognised as significant for a number of reasons.2First, the proceedings concern genocide, which isregarded as the most heinous of crimes,3and due to issues of jurisdictional limitations in parallel proceedings in the International Criminal Court (‘ICC’),4theInternational Court of Justice (‘ICJ’ or ‘the Court’) may be the only international court capable of determining whether genocide has occurred.
Topic:
Genocide, International Court of Justice (ICJ), Rohingya, and Statelessness
Political Geography:
Southeast Asia, Myanmar, and Gambia

7. China’s Responsibility, and Ours: The Persecution and Neglect of Stateless North Korean Children

Author:
Rob York, Hannah Cole, and Kaylin Kim
Publication Date:
06-2024
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Pacific Forum
Abstract:
What happens to the children of North Korean women who are born in China? What happens when they remain in China, or when they escape to other countries? It is believed that as many as 300,000 North Koreans have fled the country—most of them since the famine of the 1990s, and most of them women. To address China’s “bare branches”—its much larger population of young men than young women—North Korean women are often sold to young Chinese men as brides. The children of these brides will be born stateless, lack legal rights, and face the ever-present danger of their mothers’ deportation back to North Korea because they are considered illegal immigrants in China. These unique challenges persist, despite China being a party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, among other international treaties. Even those children that eventually escape to third-party countries are haunted by their status, as their statelessness caused legal hindrances to their ability to settle and, specifically in South Korea, deprives them of government assistance. This study documents the treatment of “stateless” children born to North Korean and Chinese parents. It delineates the factors that contribute to their mistreatment—China’s unwillingness to anger the North Korean government, South Korea’s growing disinterest in North Korean defectors, and a lack of formal networks for North Korean defectors elsewhere. It further finds that, with China openly hostile toward “meddling” in its internal affairs, the most likely source of relief for these children will be a change in attitudes among South Koreans, the United States, and their allies and partners, resulting in conscious effort by their governments and civil societies to help them, both financially and in assisting with their assimilation.
Topic:
Human Rights, International Law, Children, and Statelessness
Political Geography:
China, Asia, and North Korea

8. Getting Statelessness Published: Pathways to Publication for Early Career Researchers in the Field of Statelessness Studies

Author:
Barbara von Rütte
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Melbourne Law School
Abstract:
The field of statelessness studies is coming of age.1 Over the last decade, a growing number of young scholars have been working on questions relating to statelessness and citizenship in different disciplines, from diverse perspectives and in various parts of the world, as this Special Issue demonstrates.2 Many of these young statelessness scholars have recently completed their doctoral research and are aboutto publish their work. At the same time, quite a number of significant contributions to the field are based on the doctoral research of statelessness scholars.3 Nevertheless, publishing can be difficult in a field like statelessness or citizenship which is so broad and interdisciplinary in character but, at the same time, highly specialised. Access to publication is even more difficult for early career researchers and, as the study by Jozefien Boone has shown, for scholars with lived experience of statelessness and scholars from the Global South.4Hence, the question of how research on statelessness and citizenship can be published has been raised within the Global PhDs on Statelessness (‘GPS’) network. This commentary discusses the pathway to publication for research on statelessness and citizenship by doctoral and early career scholars based on a 2021 seminar on academic publishing organised by the GPS network,5 as well as on my own experience with publishing my first monograph.6 It is directed at early career researchers in the field of statelessness studies with the aim of providing them with pathways for publishing their doctoral research.7This commentaryfocuseson the procedure for publishing a bookin the form of a traditional monograph, which is clearly distinguishable from the publishing of an academic article.
Topic:
Citizenship, Research, Global South, Academia, Statelessness, Publication, Monograph, and Article
Political Geography:
Global Focus

9. Refusing Refusal The Struggles of Stateless Palestinians in the Swedish Migration Regime

Author:
Helena Lindholm
Publication Date:
12-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Statelessness & Citizenship Review
Institution:
Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Melbourne Law School
Abstract:
This article explores the ways in which contemporary Swedish migration politics are manifested and performed in relation to stateless Palestinians. A qualitative case study shows how the migration regime of Sweden aggravates conditions of statelessness through managerial aspects of categorisations, temporalities, passivisation and spatialities. The article illustrates how securitised migration politics are detrimental to how statelessness is lived and experienced but also that stateless migrants actively engage with this regime in order to resist, protest and achieve change. Using counter-conduct as a prism through which to analyse migrant resistance, the article further explores how stateless migrants do not passively submit themselves to the outcome of penalising regimes, but struggle for a right of presence.
Topic:
Migration, Politics, Refugees, Palestinians, and Statelessness
Political Geography:
Europe and Sweden

10. Sea Level Rise and Climate Statelessness: From 'Too Little, Too Late' to Context-Based Relevance

Author:
Michel Rouleau-Dick
Publication Date:
12-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Statelessness & Citizenship Review
Institution:
Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Melbourne Law School
Abstract:
Several low-lying island states currently risk the loss of their entire territory before the end of the century. Combined with the inadequacy of the existing framework of international refugee law to address the challenges faced by those displaced, this situation has made the law on statelessness an interesting candidate for securing an alternative path to obtaining a legal status in a post-relocation context. However, while several authors have examined this possibility, the majority conclude that it fails in its putative task by providing too little, and by coming into play too late to be of any significant relevance to the situation of environmentally displaced persons in low-lying island states. This article challenges this narrative by re-examining the relevance of the law on statelessness along with the context within which it might have to play a role.
Topic:
Climate Change, Displacement, Statehood, Statelessness, Legal Status, and Climate Refugees
Political Geography:
Global Focus and Island States