Statelessness

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.

• Recent Action on Statelessness

Recent Accessions to the Statelessness Conventions

• Honduras, 1961 Convention, 18 December 2012
• Portugal, 1954 & 1961 Conventions, 1 October 2012
• Honduras, 1954 Convention, 1 October 2012
• Ecuador, 1961 Convention, 24 September 2012
• Turkmenistan, 1961 Convention, 29 August 2012
• Paraguay, 1961 Convention, 6 June 2012
• Burkina Faso, 1954 Convention, 1 May 2012
• Moldova, 1954 & 1961 Conventions, 19 April 2012
• Bulgaria, 1954 & 1961 Conventions, 22 March 2012
• Georgia, 1954 Convention, 23 December 2011
• Benin, 1954 & 1961 Conventions, 8 December 2011

• List of 1954 Convention States Parties & 1961 Convention States Parties & maps of States parties

• State Pledges on Statelessness

• National Legislation Relating to Nationality and Statelessness
• National Legislation Relating to Nationality and Statelessness

• 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, November 2012
• United Nations General Assembly Resolutions of particular relevance to statelessness and nationality, updated 28 March 2012
• Extracts relating to nationality and statelessness from selected universal and regional human rights instruments, November 2009
• Extracts of selected General Comments and Recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies relating to nationality and statelessness, November 2009
• Universal Periodic Review - Recommendations Relating to Statelessness from the First Cycle, 13 September 2012
• Human Rights Council resolutions relating to nationality and statelessness (from 2006)
• Commission on Human Rights resolutions on arbitrary deprivation of nationality (until 2006)
• International Law Commission Articles on Nationality of Natural Persons in relation to the Succession of States, 3 April 1999
• 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
• National legislation relating to statelessness, citizenship and nationality
• Case law related to nationality and statelessness

• Statelessness Policy and Doctrine
• Guidelines on Statelessness No. 1: The definition of "Stateless Person" in Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons , HCR/GS/12/01, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 20 February 2012
• Guidelines on Statelessness No. 2: Procedures for Determining whether an Individual is a Stateless Person, HCR/GS/12/02, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 5 April 2012
• Guidelines on Statelessness No. 3: The Status of Stateless Persons at the National Level, HCR/GS/12/03, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 17 July 2012
• Guidelines on Statelessness No. 4: Ensuring Every Child's Right to Acquire a Nationality through Articles 1-4 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, HCR/GS/12/04, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 21 December 2012
• Expert Meeting - The Concept of Stateless Persons under International Law ("Prato Conclusions"), May 2010
• Expert Meeting - Expert Meeting - Statelessness Determination Procedures and the Status of Stateless Persons ("Geneva Conclusions"), December 2010
• Expert Meeting - Interpreting the 1961 Statelessness Convention and Preventing Statelessness among Children: ("Dakar Conclusions"), September 2011
• UN Secretary-General (UNSG), Guidance Note of the Secretary General: The United Nations and Statelessness, June 2011
• Human rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality: report of the Secretary-General, December 2009
• Human rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality : report of the Secretary-General , UN Human Rights Council, 19 December 2011
• UNHCR and De Facto Statelessness, April 2010
• Resettlement of Non-Refugee Stateless Persons - Extract from the UNHCR Resettlement Handbook 2011, July 2011
• Climate Change and Statelessness: An 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
• 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
• Executive Committee Conclusion No. 106 (LVI), 2006, Identification, Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness and Protection of Stateless Persons, 6 October 2006 (also available in French)
• Executive Committee Conclusion No. 78 (XLVI), 1995, Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness and Protection of Stateless Persons, 20 October 1995 (also available in French)
• Other Executive Committee Conclusions related to Statelessness, updated July 2010
• Note on international protection : report of the High Commissioner : addendum, A/AC.96/1098/Add.1, 28 June 2011
• All Progress reports on UNHCR's statelessness activities
• Extracts relating to UNHCR's supervisory responsibility for the statelessness conventions
• Birth Registration: A Topic Proposed for an Executive Committee Conclusion on International Protection, 9 February 2010

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

• Thematic Resources
• Background Note on Gender Equality, Nationality Laws and Statelessness, 8 March 2012
• UNHCR and CRTD.A Regional Dialogue on Gender Equality, Nationality and Statelessness : Overview and Key Findings, January 2012
• Climate Change and the Risk of Statelessness: The Situation of Low-lying Island States, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, May 2011

• Country/Regional Specific Situations
• Citizens of Nowhere: Solutions for the Stateless in the U.S., December 2012
• UNHCR Report of the Regional Workshop on Statelessness and the Rights of Women and Children, 19 November 2011
• Statelessness in Southern Africa, 2012
• Statelessness in the Canadian Context : An updated discussion paper, March 2012
• Mapping Statelessness in the United Kingdom, 22 November 2011
• Mapping Statelessness in the Netherlands, November 2011
• Persons at Risk of Statelessness in Serbia, June 2011
• Statelessness in Central Asia, May 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
• Note on the Nationality Status of the Urdu-speaking Community in Bangladesh,17 December 2009
• Other regional and country studies and reports

• Tools
• UNHCR Action to Address Statelessness: A Strategy Note, March 2010
• Self-Study Module on Statelessness,1 October 2012
• Guidance document on measuring stateless populations, May 2011
• Measuring Statelessness through Population Census. Note by the Secretariat of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, ECE/CES/AC.6/2008/SP/5, 13 May 2008
• Nationality & Statelessness. A Handbook for Parliamentarians, UNHCR/Inter-Parliamentary Union, 20 October 2005 (updated August 2008) (also available in French)
• Statelessness: An Analytical Framework for Prevention, Reduction and Protection, 2008
• Protecting the Rights of Stateless Persons: The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, September 2010
• Preventing and Reducing Statelessness: The 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, September 2010
• A Guide to Teaching on Statelessness, September 2010
• UNHCR Guidelines for Reviewing and Commenting on National Legislation, March 2009

• Related UNHCR Links
• UN Conventions on Statelessness (including Lists of States Parties, Reservations and Declarations, and Maps of States Parties)
• Statelessness: Who is stateless?
• 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
• Refugee Magazine Issue 147: The Excluded, September 2007
• Forced Migration Review Issue 32 on Statelessness
• International Observatory on Statelessness
• Open Society Justice and Equality Citizenship
• Tilburg University Statelessness Programme
• Photographer Greg Constantine
• UN Audiovisual Library of International Law: Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons