tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13200288947946446202024-03-05T12:06:48.084+01:00Statelessness Programme BlogAn informal space to comment on statelessness doctrine, case law and new developments in the field.Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.comBlogger129125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-19508810757930650982014-12-15T21:59:00.000+01:002014-12-15T22:01:12.409+01:00The World's Stateless - A new report on why size does and doesn't matter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNREBvquBaBtWstV1OuXNpzS-QFdNBZX6_8EhGlqo0OxgzJToWl5nQvwqwv40RkJY1lZBw_9mmzK2GR4tcDD3j2xww-N9kgJxkdH31IDrWRcK6D1oLao7-KG06LL9NM9KzSUuIJB0vY8o/s1600/worldstateless.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNREBvquBaBtWstV1OuXNpzS-QFdNBZX6_8EhGlqo0OxgzJToWl5nQvwqwv40RkJY1lZBw_9mmzK2GR4tcDD3j2xww-N9kgJxkdH31IDrWRcK6D1oLao7-KG06LL9NM9KzSUuIJB0vY8o/s1600/worldstateless.png" height="320" width="231" /></a><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Today, the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion launched its inaugural <a data-mce-href="http://www.institutesi.org/worldsstateless.pdf" href="http://www.institutesi.org/worldsstateless.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">World’s Stateless</a> report. The report focuses largely on the question of statistical reporting on statelessness, with a hope to contribute to a better sense of the task of ending statelessness by 2014: knowing who and where the stateless are and how many people are afflicted by statelessness in the world today can help to inform the campaign to end statelessness. Below, is a summary of the report’s key findings.</span></em></strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The challenge of mapping statelessness</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Quantifying statelessness is our shared responsibility. States hold the primary duty to identify stateless persons in order to implement their international obligations towards these populations –under the two UN statelessness conventions and in accordance with international human rights law. In the fulfilment of its statelessness mandate, UNHCR has been tasked to undertake and share research on various aspects of statelessness, including on the scope of the problem. Other UN agencies, NGOs and academia also have a role to play in the identification and quantification of situations of statelessness. Quantifying statelessness is a complicated task, requiring several methodological hurdles to be overcome:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Definitional issues:</span> </strong></em>The definition of statelessness is not as straightforward as it appears to be. The term “not considered as a national… under the operation of its law” has been <a data-mce-href="http://www.refworld.org/docid/53b676aa4.html" href="http://www.refworld.org/docid/53b676aa4.html" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">authoritatively interpreted</a> as being both a question of fact and law. Consequently, there are persons who would legally be eligible for a particular nationality, who are nonetheless not considered as nationals by the state, and whose statelessness is consequently hidden.<br /><span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Gaps in data collection tools:</span></strong></em><b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </b>States may give insufficient priority to the implementation of measures to identify statelessness or accurately quantify it. Sometimes, there is even a deliberate strategy to deny the prevalence of statelessness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Lack of adequate or comprehensive data collection:</span> </strong></em>Even where data on statelessness is collected, this does not always yield comprehensive or reliable results, due to a wrong interpretation of the definition or poor methodology. Furthermore, some such exercises have been limited in their scope, focusing only on one ethnic group or geographical area of a country.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Unwillingness or lack of awareness to self-identify as stateless:</span></strong></em><b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </b>Many stateless persons do not see themselves as being stateless. Even if they do, there is often reluctance to draw attention to this. Thus, data collection which relies on self-identification may not be entirely accurate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Protection considerations in the identification of statelessness:</span></strong></em><b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </b>Undocumented persons and those who are of undetermined nationality may be at risk of statelessness and indeed, some of them are likely to already be stateless. However, when such persons are in their own countries, they will almost always receive greater protection if confirmed to be nationals and the ‘stateless’ label can be counter-productive. Nevertheless, even in such situations, where the denial of documentation is long-lasting (even inter-generational), there would come a point when it is better to acknowledge such persons as stateless.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;">From a practical perspective too, there are various gaps in the existing data on statelessness:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Not all countries in the world are able to report data on statelessness:</span></strong></em> Today, UNHCR has reliable data on the number of stateless persons in 75 countries. This means that statelessness remains unmapped in over 50% of the world’s states.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Figures for different countries are compiled from different data sets – that use different methodologies – and do not always reveal the full picture:</span></strong></em> The data collated by UNHCR is drawn from information produced by different actors, in different places, using different approaches – not all of which deliver the same level of reliability or produce readily-comparable data.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Only persons exclusively under UNHCR’s statelessness protection mandate are reported in its statelessness statistics:</span></strong></em><b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </b>UNHCR’s statistical reporting on statelessness excludes stateless persons who also fall within the protection mandates of other UN Agencies, and those who also come under other UNHCR protection mandates (such as refugees, IDPs or asylum seekers).</span></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.0063037872314px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Global statelessness statistics</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">UNHCR estimates that there are <strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">‘over 10 million’</strong> stateless persons in the world. Due to gaps in the collection of data by governments, the UN and civil society, a full breakdown of this figure is beyond reach. Statistical reporting by UNHCR currently covers only a total tally of some 3.5 million stateless persons. A closer look at the data shows that 97.6% of the number of stateless persons reported in UNHCR statistics globally can be found in just 20 countries, which each is home to a stateless population of over 10,000. Less than 84,000 stateless persons are spread across the remaining 55 countries for which a figure on statelessness is reported.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;">In absolute numbers, statelessness is documented as affecting far more people in </span><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Asia and the Pacific</strong><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;"> than in any other region of the world, with UNHCR reporting a total of 1,422,850 persons. In six countries the number of stateless persons is reported to be over 10,000 and a further nine are currently marked by an asterisk in UNHCR’s statistics – meaning that there is a significant stateless population, which has not been accurately quantified. It is also evident that statelessness is severely underreported in Asia and the Pacific. It is safe to conservatively project that the true number of stateless persons in Asia and the Pacific is more than double what UNHCR is currently able to account for in its statelessness statistics. It may be far higher if there are widespread problems of statelessness in India, Indonesia, Nepal and Pakistan, as some of the available information suggests.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;">In contrast, the </span><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Americas </strong><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;">currently reports the lowest number of stateless persons (at just over 200,000) and is indisputably the region with the fewest people affected by statelessness. This demonstrates the advantages of a </span><i style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">jus soli </i><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;">approach to nationality (i.e. conferral of nationality at birth to all children born in the territory), the norm in the Americas, as this prevents statelessness being passed on to the next generation. Yet, the situation that has unfolded in the Dominican Republic over the past year is the most egregious new violation of international human rights norms relating to nationality and statelessness. Underreporting on the population affected in the Dominican Republic and the lack of reliable statistics on statelessness in other countries mean that statelessness affects far more persons in the Americas than currently be reported by UNHCR – how many more, is not known.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;">In (sub-Saharan) </span><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Africa</strong><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;">, statelessness has been exceedingly difficult to accurately quantify. Only four out of 47 countries in this region were accounted for in UNHCR’s end-2013 statistics (currently totalling 721,303 stateless persons). Alternative data sources show widely varying estimates for countries not included in the statistics such as Madagascar and Zimbabwe. In other cases, there are no numbers at all, such as in the DRC and South Africa. It appears safe to conclude that, in Africa, statelessness is likely to actually affect more than double the number of persons currently accounted for in UNHCR’s statistics, and probably many more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;">By comparison, statelessness is most comprehensively mapped in </span><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Europe</strong><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;">. Statistical reporting on statelessness has been achieved in 40 out of 50 countries. The total figure reported by UNHCR is 670,828, some 85% of whom can be found in just four countries (Latvia, the Russian Federation, Estonia and Ukraine) – in all cases as a product of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Although the phenomenon appears, at first sight, to be largely mapped, a closer look at the numbers gives reason to question whether this data is truly accurate and comprehensive. There is a problem of persons being reported as holding an ‘unknown nationality’, which is obscuring the true number affected by statelessness. It is however difficult to estimate how significantly current statistics undercount statelessness in Europe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;">UNHCR reports a total of 444,237 stateless persons in the </span><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Middle East and North Africa </strong><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;">(MENA). This figure excludes stateless Palestinians. Furthermore, the absence of any data for three countries which are known to have significant statelessness problems, points to substantial under-reporting. Quantifying the problem is a big challenge because of the diversity of the groups affected and the underlying causes, as well as the high political sensitivity of questions of citizenship and demography in many countries. On the basis of what incomplete data there is, it is apparent that the UNHCR statistics for statelessness in the MENA significantly underrepresent the problem and (excluding stateless Palestinians and refugees such as the Rohingya) the lowest estimate for how many stateless persons are currently unreported is 100,000 persons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;">While not all stateless persons are </span><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">refugees </strong><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;">and, indeed, not all refugees are stateless, there is some overlap between these two groups. A person can be both stateless </span><i style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">and </i><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;">a refugee for the purposes of international law. However, stateless refugees are not included in UNHCR’s statelessness statistics. The world’s most significant stateless refugee populations include the Black Mauritanians, Faili Kurds, stateless Kurds from Syria and Rohingya refugees. A conservative tally of the total number of refugees affected by statelessness across these and the other groups suggests that there are currently at least 1.5 million stateless refugees and former refugees around the world. Many of these persons are counted within UNHCR’s refugee statistics (a significant exception being hundreds of thousands of Rohingya in the Middle East and some Asian countries).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;">Stateless persons of </span><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Palestinian </strong><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;">origin are also largely excluded from present statistical reporting. While, from the point of view of international law, many Palestinians are likely to meet the definition of a stateless person, their situation is complex. Due to the mandate of UNRWA, established specifically to provide assistance to </span><i style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Palestine Refugees</i><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;">, Palestinians also enjoy different statuses and these do not align with the question of nationality status. Available data on Palestinians who fall under UNRWA mandate, Palestinians under UNHCR’s refugee mandate and Palestinians potentially under UNHCR’s statelessness protection mandate shows that there are more than five million Palestinians worldwide who are stateless under international law or whose nationality status is currently ambiguous. Upon clarification of Palestinian nationality law and who falls within its scope, this number would need to be carefully reviewed.</span></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.0063037872314px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Conclusions</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Our research confirms that the 3.5 million figure reported by UNHCR from collated global statistics on statelessness significantly underrepresents the scale of the problem. We found conservative estimates in other sources that would account for an additional approximately 2.5 million stateless persons. There are also approximately 2.1 million persons of Palestinian origin, who were never displaced from the West Bank or Gaza Strip and whose nationality status remains ambiguous. This brings the tally of stateless persons who are currently in some way statistically accounted for, to over eight million. The true number of stateless persons is likely to be significantly higher, due to the data gaps which were identified and could not be filled. Thus, it is clear that UNHCR’s estimate of ‘at least 10 million’ persons exclusively under its statelessness protection mandate is well founded. Furthermore, there are also at least 1.5 million stateless refugees and around 3.5 million stateless refugees from Palestine. When this is all tallied up, there are therefore likely to be more than <strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">15 million </strong>stateless persons worldwide today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;">In conclusion it must be stated that while the quest for clarity on the magnitude of statelessness is a fascinating, compelling and useful one, it is important to acknowledge that it should not be all-consuming. Having comprehensive and accurate information about who is affected by statelessness and where, is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Better data will undoubtedly help in the campaign to end statelessness by 2024, but the priority needs to rest firmly with addressing – not (just) mapping – the issue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;">To read the full report, click </span><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.institutesi.org/worldsstateless.pdf" href="http://www.institutesi.org/worldsstateless.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">here</a></strong></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Laura van Waas, Amal de Chickera and Zahra Albarazi, Co-Founders of the new Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">[<i>This blog also appeared on the website of the European Network on Statelessness, www.statelessness.eu</i>]</span></div>
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Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-83512771003993615992014-11-20T16:42:00.000+01:002014-11-20T16:43:05.158+01:00Launch of ENS Campaign - None of Europe’s children should be stateless<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He has your infectious smile and your partners bright,
warm eyes. He shares your jovial nature and your partner’s ease in connecting
with people and making them laugh. He is
intelligent, generous, kind – and a little mischievous. You swell with pride as
you watch him play thoughtfully with his toy cars, his imagination transforming
your living room floor into a world of adventure. You love him in a way that
you find hard to put into words and that has caught you by surprise. Life
without him is now unimaginable. Yet you still catch yourself wondering if you have
done the right thing. Will he blame you when he is big enough to understand?
Will he forgive you? Can you forgive yourself? Every day you worry about his
future. Will he be able to finish school? What happens if he’s ever seriously
ill? What if his ambition is to be a lawyer or an engineer or a politician?
What if he wants a family of his own? The anxiety forms a hard lump in the pit
of your stomach and sometimes you have to stop watching his carefree playing
because the worry rises to the surface and threatens to consume you. Your
beautiful boy is just like every other kid, except for one thing. He has no
nationality. He didn't ask to be different and try as you might, you and your
partner were powerless to do anything. Your son will grow up stateless. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It seems an
unlikely scenario and one that must surely only play out a long way away in a
somehow less ‘civilised’ part of the world… but in this region too, statelessness
continues to arise because European states are failing to ensure that all
children born within Europe’s borders or to European citizen parents acquire a
nationality. Childhood statelessness stands at odds with the right of every
child to a nationality, as laid down in the Convention on the Rights of the
Child – adopted 25-years ago today, on Universal Children’s Day. ENS is taking
the occasion of this anniversary to launch its <b>new region-wide campaign ‘None of Europe’s Children should be
Stateless’</b>. This campaign will raise awareness and promote measures aimed
at ensuring that all children born in Europe or to European parents outside the
region can in practice realise their right to a nationality. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB">Like Quis’ kids,
now ages six and nine, who were born and raised in Malta, but remain stateless.
As </span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140622/local/meet-stera-mohammed-maltas-stateless-children.524446"><span lang="EN-GB">reported in the Times of Malta</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB"> earlier this year, Quis himself is
stateless because he is among a large group of Kurds who were arbitrarily
stripped of their nationality in their home country of Syria many decades ago,
so he has no nationality to offer his children. His wife Nessrin is a Syrian
citizen but Syrian law does not allow women to transfer nationality so she too
is helpless to provide a nationality to her children. Yes, these are children
of foreign heritage and the law and policies in Syria have played a significant
role in their predicament – but they are also Europe’s children, born and bred,
attending school and participating in society in Malta. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB">Like
Drita’s nine children, none of whom are recognised as citizens in their home
country of Serbia, or anywhere else. Drita, a Roma woman, has only recently –
and after a lengthy struggle culminating in a court procedure – acquired a
birth certificate for herself. She had been living without any personal
documents because the birth registry in Kosovo in which her birth had been
recorded was destroyed. Before she is recognised as Serbian, however, she still
needs to complete further long and uncertain procedures relating to the
registration of permanent residence and determination of citizenship. Until she
can win this battle for herself, she is powerless to help her children resolve
their statelessness. But for Drita’s children and </span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.praxis.org.rs/images/praxis_downloads/praxis-persons-at-risk-of-statelessness-in-serbia.pdf"><span lang="EN-GB">hundreds more like them</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB">, Serbia is the only country they
know and the place they call home. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB">Like </span><span lang="EN">Elżbieta’s 17-year old daughter, Marysia, brought
home from an orphanage when she was just a toddler, but still stateless today
as she stands on the cusp of adulthood. Her </span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://metro.gazeta.pl/Wydarzenia/1,126477,16252946,_Chcielismy_adoptowac_Marysie__Uslyszelismy__ze_lepiej.html"><span lang="EN">story was told in the Polish press last
July</span></a></span><span lang="EN">. Marysia was
abandoned at a Polish hospital, immediately after birth. All that anyone seems
to know about her birth mother is that she was not from Poland – the Doctor’s
wrote <i>Romanian </i>on her mother’s
hospital record. But Marysia is not recognised by the Romanian authorities as a
citizen and it took a long legal battle for Elżbieta to get even a residence
permit for her daughter, even though she was born in Poland and is being raised
by a Polish couple. Elżbieta’s last hope in solving her daughter’s
statelessness is to wait for the outcome of an exceptional procedure through
which the President may, at his discretion, award citizenship. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhatMBXLurnyvvSPzkScWTwLJB46Sh8sriBhpLUfIHXwNVtbJKf8NEZ-Qcny4W10q4UZOKqlXninlv-2LJgCbap8q2_VgdIaDYFmeANNgeQJDOJf4_QJNN0JG7-SYmW3ZjvpmFES0edgnc/s1600/campaignphoto1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhatMBXLurnyvvSPzkScWTwLJB46Sh8sriBhpLUfIHXwNVtbJKf8NEZ-Qcny4W10q4UZOKqlXninlv-2LJgCbap8q2_VgdIaDYFmeANNgeQJDOJf4_QJNN0JG7-SYmW3ZjvpmFES0edgnc/s1600/campaignphoto1.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Like Lin’s two
young children, a boy aged 4 and a newborn girl – both born in the Netherlands,
both stateless. Lin was only a child herself when, at age 14, she was
trafficked from China to the Netherlands. Her parents never registered her
birth because of the restrictions of the one-child policy and they were hoping
for a son. After being rescued from exploitation and testifying as a witness in
the prosecution of her traffickers, Lin tried several times to get the Chinese
authorities to confirm her nationality, but they will not recognise her as a
citizen. Her children were then unable to acquire a nationality at birth.
Although her son, at age 4, is now eligible for Dutch nationality under a
special safeguard in the law for stateless children born in the country, the
authorities have registered him as ‘nationality unknown’ and this is preventing
him from invoking the special provision that is designed to protect him from
growing up without a nationality.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: inherit;">None of these
parents chose for their children to be stateless – in fact they have been
fighting to do everything that is within their power to secure a nationality
for them, it was simply beyond their reach. They all fear for what a life of
statelessness could mean for their children: hardship, questions, suspicion,
denied opportunities, unfulfilled potential, a sense of never quite belonging.
No parent should have to experience this anguish. No child needs to be
stateless. There are a number of simple measures that governments can be take
in order to ensure that children who would otherwise be stateless and who have
a clear connection to the country, by birth or parentage, are not left
without a nationality. The new ENS
campaign launched today seeks to promote these measures and to raise awareness
of the need to tackle childhood statelessness so that we can put a halt to the
spread of statelessness in the region. If we can achieve this, we will have
taken the first critical step towards ending statelessness in Europe. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB">Earlier
this year, ENS released a report on </span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.statelessness.eu/resources/preventing-childhood-statelessness-europe-issues-gaps-and-good-practices"><b><span lang="EN-GB">Childhood statelessness in Europe: Issues, gaps and good practices</span></b></a></span><span lang="EN-GB">. This report concluded that
although most of Europe’s nationality laws notionally include safeguards to
protect against the risk of statelessness, in reality children continue to be
born stateless across the region. ENS is committed to helping to change this
picture by: raising awareness on the importance of and measures to prevent
childhood statelessness, working with the child rights community to foster a
more active engagement on the issue of children’s right to a nationality and
promote relevant international standards, conducting further research in order
to fully identify what gaps exist in law, policy and practice and developing a
better understanding of how problematic birth registration procedures are
connected to issues of childhood statelessness. A special feature of this
campaign will be an outreach programme to schools and youth to help to raise
the profile of the issue and to engage youngsters in creating a platform for
change. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Over the
coming months, ENS will focus on the research dimension of its campaign work. A
number of country studies will be carried out to explore how, when and why
children are being left without a nationality and what can be done to address
this. ENS will also promote research into cross-cutting issues that affect the
problem of childhood statelessness across the region. To this end, <b>ENS will convene a</b> <b>regional conference on the children’s right to a nationality in Europe
in June 2015</b> to discuss the challenges and opportunities around ending
childhood statelessness. This will provide a venue for the discussion of ENS’
own research findings, but also for the presentation of relevant research
conducted by scholars, NGOs and other experts (a call for presenters with full
details will be issued early in 2015). The conference will also be the
launch-pad from which ENS will embark on broader and more public-facing
campaign activities as part of the second phase of its campaign aimed at
strengthening frameworks for the prevention of statelessness among Europe’s
children. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB">If you
would like to learn more about the ENS campaign ‘None of Europe’s Children
should be Stateless’ and how you can get involved, please email</span><span lang="EN-GB"> </span><span lang="NL"><a href="mailto:info@statelessness.eu"><span lang="EN">info@statelessness.eu</span></a></span><span lang="EN">. You can also write to this address to be added to the mailing list for
updates about campaign activities and the forthcoming conference. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Laura van Waas, Campaign Consultant and member of
the ENS Advisory Committee; Senior Researcher and Manager of the Statelessness Programme</span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: inherit;">[This blog first appeared on the <a href="http://www.statelessness.eu/blog/launch-ens-campaign-none-europe%E2%80%99s-children-should-be-stateless" target="_blank">website of the European Network on Statelessness</a>]</span></span></div>
</div>
Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-28691586410995867782014-11-04T09:42:00.001+01:002014-11-04T09:42:35.952+01:00Why a campaign to end statelessness matters<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif;">Dear friends and
colleagues,</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-no-proof: yes;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim7TkUj-NKctThccPJxV43wEwdS8xwGc2REzAcEXUV08KXrkMEOLQrS7nOD2yExsLFN7IdnE7sNGI8lHOkVYwG2D7C0fQIldnUP6uxCP_kuwn8w9qD_WrGFfov1ae2cgILi2xGDCIGCuY/s1600/video+overlay+image+-+jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim7TkUj-NKctThccPJxV43wEwdS8xwGc2REzAcEXUV08KXrkMEOLQrS7nOD2yExsLFN7IdnE7sNGI8lHOkVYwG2D7C0fQIldnUP6uxCP_kuwn8w9qD_WrGFfov1ae2cgILi2xGDCIGCuY/s1600/video+overlay+image+-+jpg.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif;">It is not easy to imagine
what life would be like if you did not hold any nationality. In fact, it is not
easy to even imagine this even being possible. Everyone has a birthplace, a family, a home, a community:
surely everyone has a nationality? Sadly, no. Millions of people around the
world are stateless. They are perpetual foreigners, disenfranchised, not
recognised as or able to exercise the rights of citizens in any country. This
is a serious problem – for those affected, but also for those of us who do
enjoy a nationality and can make a difference, as people who care about and
want our children to grow up in a free, fair, safe and democratic world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Aparajita, sans-serif;">We welcome, admire and support the ambitious campaign launched today by
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to end statelessness
by 2024. Statelessness fundamentally and unequivocally deserves more attention
than it has received to date and the time has come for it to take its rightful
place amongst other pressing and worrying issues that are already vying for
international attention. <span style="background: white;">We are not powerless in the face of
statelessness. Citizenship is our own modern-day creation and we set the
rules. Bad laws can be amended. Discriminatory policies can be repealed.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span>We believe that with greater
awareness of the issue, stronger collaboration and a firm commitment to act,
statelessness can be solved. Indeed, we not only believe that statelessness can
be tackled, we believe that it must. Statelessness matters, to all of us, for
many reasons. Here are just some of them…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #002060; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: white; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita; mso-themecolor: background1;">If people matter…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif;">Stateless persons are
among the world’s most vulnerable. They are seen and treated as foreigners by
every country in the world, including the country in which they were born, the
country of their ancestors, the country of their residence, the country they
happen to find themselves in today and any country they may find themselves
expelled to tomorrow. Stateless persons face an extreme form of exclusion that
impacts their sense of dignity and identity, as well as their ability to do all
sorts of everyday things that most of us take for granted, like go to school,
get a job, be treated by a doctor, get married or travel. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #002060; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita;">So, if people matter,</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #ff6600; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita;"> statelessness matters.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #002060; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: white; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita; mso-themecolor: background1;">If
children matter…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif;">Many of the world’s stateless
persons are children. In fact, in every region of the world, children continue
to be born into statelessness and grow up never knowing the protection and recognition
that comes with a nationality. Some children inherit their statelessness from
stateless parents, creating an intergenerational problem. Others aren’t able to
acquire their parents’ or any other nationality due to discriminatory laws and
policies or the failure of governments to implement simple legal safeguards
that prevent childhood statelessness. Without a nationality, children can have
difficulty exercising their rights, become outcasts in their own country,
struggle to feel like they belong and grow up to be disenfranchised and excluded
adults. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #002060; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita;">So, if children matter, </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #ff6600; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita;">statelessness matters.</span><b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #002060; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: white; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita; mso-themecolor: background1;">If human rights matter…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif;">The contemporary human
rights framework is premised on notions of equality, liberty, dignity and
universality: we <i>all</i> hold basic
rights because we are human beings. But the human rights system also recognises
that states may reserve some rights for their citizens, such as the right to vote
or be elected, placing these out of reach for stateless people. And in
practice, statelessness is a proven barrier to the exercise a wide range of
other rights. So the very universality of human right rests on the premise that
everyone enjoys a nationality – laid down, for that reason, as a right in most major
human rights instruments. Until statelessness is eradicated, the fundamental
aspiration of universal human rights remains just that, an aspiration. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #002060; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita;">So, if human rights matter, </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #ff6600; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita;">statelessness matters.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #002060; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: white; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita; mso-themecolor: background1;">If development matters…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif;">Difficulties accessing
education and employment; restricted property rights; lack of opportunities to
own or register a business; limited access to a bank account or a loan; and, in
some cases, the threat of extortion, detention or expulsion; these factors can
trap stateless persons in poverty and make it extremely challenging for them to
improve their circumstances. Where statelessness affects whole communities over
several successive generations – as it often sadly does – such communities can
be neglected by development actors and processes. Statelessness means a waste,
of individual potential, of human capital and of development opportunities. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #002060; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita;">So, if development matters, </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #ff6600; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita;">statelessness matters.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #002060; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: white; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita; mso-themecolor: background1;">If democracy matters…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif;">Nationality is the
gateway to political participation. Stateless persons have no right to vote,
stand for election or effect change through regular political channels. Their
statelessness suppresses their voices and renders their opinions obsolete. In
countries with large stateless populations, whole sectors of the constituency
are disenfranchised. Elsewhere, statelessness is a tool in the arsenal of those
who would seek to manipulate the democratic process, with deprivation of
nationality a means of silencing the opposition. To ensure a level and
inclusive democratic playing field, stateless persons must also be heard. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #002060; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita;">So, if democracy matters, </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #ff6600; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita;">statelessness matters. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #002060; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: white; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita; mso-themecolor: background1;">If addressing displacement matters…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif;">Statelessness is a
recognised root cause of forced displacement, with stateless persons fleeing
their homes and often countries in order to find protection elsewhere. Preventing
cases of statelessness is vital for the prevention of refugee flows – a link
that has been a key motivation for UNHCR to further operationalise its
statelessness mandate and now call to end statelessness. Addressing nationality
disputes and tackling statelessness where it arises can also be a key tool in
resolving existing refugee situations because it can pave the way for
successful voluntary repatriation and reintegration. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #002060; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita;">So, if addressing displacement matters, </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #ff6600; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita;">statelessness matters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #002060; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: white; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita; mso-themecolor: background1;">If peace
and security matter…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif;">The vulnerability, exclusion,
despair, frustration and sometimes persecution experienced by stateless persons
can spark other problems. Casting a group as “others” or “outsiders” by denying
them access to nationality – in spite of clear and lasting ties to the country
– can contribute to attitudes of suspicion and discrimination. This can cause a
dangerous build-up of tension within and between communities that may lead to
conflict. Disputes surrounding nationality, membership, belonging and
entitlement can also hamper peace-building efforts. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #002060; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita;">So, if peace and security matter, </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #ff6600; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita;">statelessness matters.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #002060; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: white; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita; mso-themecolor: background1;">If size matters…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif;">Many millions of people
are affected by statelessness around the world today. UNHCR estimates that
there are at least 10 million stateless persons under its mandate and if
stateless refugees and stateless Palestinians under UN Relief and Works Agency
mandate are added to this tally, the figure is higher still. This means that
there are enough stateless persons to create a medium-sized country (although
this is not suggested as a solution). Moreover, these numbers do not include
the many more who feel the impact of statelessness, for instance because a
close family member lacks any nationality. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #002060; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita;">So, if size matters, </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #ff6600; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita;">statelessness
matters.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #002060; font-family: "Accidental Presidency"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Aparajita;">What can you do? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif;">The launch of the
campaign led by the UNHCR to end
statelessness by 2024 is a great opportunity to reach out to all individuals,
communities and organisations, who have it within their capacity to help
address statelessness. Please take a moment to reflect on statelessness
and its many impacts. Is it relevant to your field of work? Does it affect
people in your country? Do people near you experience the vulnerability and
exclusion of statelessness? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif;">Sign up to UNHCR’s <b>#ibelong</b> campaign to end statelessness:
</span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://ibelong.unhcr.org/"><span style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif;">http://ibelong.unhcr.org/</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif;">. Start a conversation,
discuss the issue, raise awareness and try to use your position and expertise
to help. Share this note on ‘Why Statelessness Matters’ with people in your
network; watch and share this </span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHVCyd8hFqc"><span style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif;">short video</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif;"> too. If you would like to learn
more about statelessness, if you want to do something but are not sure what, or
if you are looking for partners to collaborate with, get in touch with us and
we will try to help. If you think your
organisation can better integrate statelessness into its work but would like to
brainstorm ideas to make this happen, we will support you. If you want to further
study the link between your field of expertise and statelessness, we welcome
your plans. Together, we can end statelessness. We can also, in the interim,
protect and include the stateless. This issue matters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Amal
de Chickera, Laura van Waas and Zahra Albarazi – Founders of the Institute on
Statelessness and Inclusion<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion is a newly
established, independent non-profit organisation dedicated to leading an
integrated, inter-disciplinary response to the injustice of statelessness and
exclusion. In December 2014, the Institute will release its first publication,
“The World’s Stateless”, assessing the challenge of ending statelessness by
2024 by taking a closer look at what we know (and what we don’t know) about who
is stateless and where. To find out more or support the Institute’s work,
please visit </span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.institutesi.org/"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">www.InstituteSI.org</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> or contact us at </span><span lang="NL"><a href="mailto:info@InstituteSI.org"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">info@InstituteSI.org</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Aparajita",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-89200333232880659912014-10-30T17:33:00.000+01:002014-10-30T17:34:32.379+01:00UNHCR 2014 Statelessness Research Award interviews... Georgetown Law Human Rights Institute Fact-Finding Project <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja_bZlf6PwZUd4N9diVuT7oZJbq-6bsxXGk-KaoL2tHdDLbzXL6JSpXwxVALKCCJ97ugl0nWbBtwdTgvc7dEzjqJtdrQ-PtA55ND7VXKoTOyVw8cfTSEjkF64x3e0tUO5KUQW9PeRWM6I/s1600/Georgetown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja_bZlf6PwZUd4N9diVuT7oZJbq-6bsxXGk-KaoL2tHdDLbzXL6JSpXwxVALKCCJ97ugl0nWbBtwdTgvc7dEzjqJtdrQ-PtA55ND7VXKoTOyVw8cfTSEjkF64x3e0tUO5KUQW9PeRWM6I/s1600/Georgetown.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>"<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">Although statelessness in the
Dominican Republic has been well-publicized, our project focused on what we
considered to be an under-researched dimension of the problem – in the context
of significant recent legal developments in the Dominican Republic. We
therefore sought to produce a report that could fill this research gap and
equip advocates with findings regarding the harsh consequences of statelessness
for children of Haitian descent born in the Dominican Republic."</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">In this series of blog posts, we are asking the students honoured in this year's </span><a href="https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/research/institutes-and-research-groups/statelessness/unhcr-award/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">UNHCR Awards for Statelessness Research</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"> about their experiences studying the phenomenon on statelessness and their research findings. Last in the series is the </span><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">Georgetown Law Human Rights Institute Fact-Finding Project </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 20px;">which received a Certificate of Appreciation from the jury for outstanding student research</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 20px;"> for the report </span><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;">Left Behind: How Statelessness in the Dominican
Republic Limits Children’s Access to Education</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">. </span></i><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">The report was written by a group of eight students, all enrolled in either Georgetown Law’s JD or LLM programme: Khaled Alrabe, Jamie Armstrong, B. Shaw Drake, Kimberly Fetsick, Elizabeth Gibson, Tabitha King, Young-Min Kwon and Franziska Veh. </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">The research was conducted by these students in the context of a year-long practicum course and included a fact-finding mission to the Dominican Republic.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Could you summarise, in 2 or 3 sentences, what your
research was about?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"> </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Our research focuses </span><span style="color: #222222;">on how statelessness impacts
other fundamental rights of children, and particularly the right to education. Our
report, “</span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.law.georgetown.edu/academics/centers-institutes/human-rights-institute/fact-finding/statelessness.cfm"><span lang="EN-US">Left Behind: How Statelessness in the Dominican
Republic Limits Children’s Access to
Education</span></a></span><span style="color: #222222;">,” shows that
many children born in the Dominican Republic but descended from foreigners, particularly Haitians, are
denied an education. For generations, such
children were recognized as citizens, but within the last decade, the Dominican
government has refused to issue many of
them birth certificates, identity cards and other essential documentation, and rendered
them stateless. The report concludes that the Dominican Republican is failing
to comply with its domestic and international human rights obligations,
including ensuring protection of the human right to education.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"> </span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">What first got you interested in the problem of
statelessness?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"> </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Each year, HRI pursues work on
one human rights issue with a small team of students, giving them the
opportunity to research a human rights problem in depth, conduct extensive
interviews on the subject, draft a comprehensive report on their findings, and
engage in related advocacy. Student participants, with the support of HRI staff
and expert faculty, are responsible for identifying the specific issue and
designing research that can fill a significant research and advocacy gap. Our multinational research team includes
members from a variety of academic and professional backgrounds, and our
interest in statelessness reflects this diverse experience. Some research group
members brought particular regional expertise to our project, while others
initially became interested in statelessness more generally, through work and
academic experience in other areas. Uniting all of the graduate students in the
group is a fundamental dedication to international human rights research and advocacy
and a desire to cast new light on a particular dimension of the problem of statelessness
in the Dominican Republic.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Why did you choose this particular research topic?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"> </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">The topic of statelessness in
the Dominican Republic was selected after careful consideration of a number of possible
research sites and issues across the Americas. Although statelessness in the
Dominican Republic has been well-publicized, our project focused on what we
considered to be an under-researched dimension of the problem – in the context
of significant recent legal developments in the Dominican Republic. We
therefore sought to produce a report that could fill this research gap and
equip advocates with findings regarding the harsh consequences of statelessness
for children of Haitian descent born in the Dominican Republic.</span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"> </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Could you briefly describe how you went about your
research? E.g. did you base it on existing sources – and were they easy to
find? Did you do fieldwork or interviews – and what was that like?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"> </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">In the Fall of 2013, the team
conducted research into statelessness as a legal concept and its dimensions on the
ground in the Americas. This process included significant consultation with
human rights practitioners, grassroots activists, and legal experts, among
others, to identify where there were research gaps to which our investigation
could contribute – as well as how our work could relate to international and
national advocacy efforts. In January 2014, we travelled to the Dominican
Republic for a week to conduct in-person interviews with scores of affected
persons, as well as service providers, educators, government officials, human
rights practitioners and grassroots activists. Our interviews included children
and adults affected by statelessness. Following the trip, we received several
official statements from the Ministry of Education that allowed us to compare
current policies to practices documented during our trip. We then synthesized these
findings into a report. It was a rigorous and rewarding process that allowed us
to do hands-on work while remaining grounded in sound legal analysis.</span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"> </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">What was the greatest challenge you had to deal with
in undertaking your research?</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;">The greatest challenge our group faced was the
overwhelming depth and long history of the problem we chose to investigate.
Narrowing an issue such as statelessness in the Dominican Republic to examine
just one aspect of how it impacts the lives of those affected was very
difficult and left out so much, including the right to health and labor rights issues.
All of these aspects are worthy topics for study. However, we felt that a focus
on the impact of statelessness on children and the right to education as a
gateway to the enjoyment of other rights would fill both a research gap and
contribute a unique perspective to support advocacy promote yet broader
protections of human rights in the Dominican Republic. Overcoming this
challenge taught us how the toll of statelessness is wide-reaching and that the
impacts of statelessness are interconnected.</span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"> </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Could you briefly summarise your main findings or
conclusions – or what you think is the most important outcome of your research?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"> </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;">We found that many children born in the Dominican
Republic but descended from foreigners, particularly Haitians, are denied an
education. For generations, such children were recognized as citizens, but
within the last decade, the Dominican government has refused to issue many of
them birth certificates, identity cards and other essential documentation,
rendering them stateless. Hence, the Dominican Republic is failing to comply
with its domestic and international human rights obligations, including to
protect the human right to education.</span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #222222;">Access to education for Dominicans of Haitian ancestry
has been curtailed by discriminatory school policies and the arbitrary
application of laws guaranteeing equal access to education. Many of those we interviewed were denied
access to – or a continuous place in – primary or secondary school because they
lacked birth certificates. Students are unable to attend university without a
cedula if they apply at the age of 18, or are forced to leave if they turn 18
while in university. Therefore, the
Government does not ensure equal access to education in violation of its own
Constitution and international law. All of this occurs in spite of laws,
policies, constitutional provisions and international human rights commitments
that are meant to guarantee children’s right to education. The report found that
administrative barriers, discrimination and confusion about the law has meant
that in practice not all children in the Dominican Republic are able to go to
school.</span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"> </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Have you found it rewarding to research statelessness
– why / why not?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"> </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;">It has been an extremely rewarding experience to research
the impact of statelessness in the Dominican Republic. Not only were we
able to build close relationships with experts in the field, we were able to meet and speak with numerous
individuals affected by statelessness and attempt to provide a platform for
expression of their experiences. Each member of our team takes great
pride in our efforts to communicate the stories of children and their families in the Dominican
Republic in our report and advocacy. Additionally, we hope that our having
conducted research in a growing field will open the door to the unique impact that
research like ours can have in other contexts. </span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"> </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">What tips would you give to students who are getting involved
in statelessness research to help them? E.g. are there particular questions you
think they should be looking at or methodological issues they should consider?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"> </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">Our experience was improved by the
in-depth background research we carried out while we were identifying a
research question and a location for field work. Although we began with a broad
topic, based on a proposal from one
member of the research team, the process of critically analysing this and a
range of other research questions and field sites was extremely helpful. We
would suggest that students and researchers who are interested in carrying out
research on statelessness go through a similarly detailed process to identify a
focus that stands to fill a gap in existing research. We would also particularly
encourage other individual researchers and groups to engage in interview-based
field research, as this is a powerful means to connect policy-makers with the
practical reality of life for stateless people. As our research was completed
by a group, we would further highlight the benefit of embracing diverse perspectives
and believe that this contributed to the quality of the report that we were able
to produce. Finally, we would emphasize the importance of careful planning when
undertaking international field research, the requirement of continuously
evaluating issues of risk and safety, and the absolute necessity to treat
interviewees with professionalism, care, and generally striving to employ the highest
ethical standards in carrying out research.</span></span></div>
</div>
Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-10059875817862834522014-10-29T10:43:00.001+01:002014-10-29T10:43:47.369+01:00UNHCR 2014 Statelessness Research Award interviews... Helen Brunt<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwYaQcvyewSnoVaEFXVjD4QDyUCR19zRZa_vSVS2KkmAOeyGCbti1S26n1Aw8ASKdRZ4Z1vs0010pdIs4BpPywk7v75wWnHDrDHDeDmbhlXv7URTd4xt856wFsY29fu0qv3UO5gggqKHI/s1600/Helen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwYaQcvyewSnoVaEFXVjD4QDyUCR19zRZa_vSVS2KkmAOeyGCbti1S26n1Aw8ASKdRZ4Z1vs0010pdIs4BpPywk7v75wWnHDrDHDeDmbhlXv7URTd4xt856wFsY29fu0qv3UO5gggqKHI/s1600/Helen.jpg" height="200" width="180" /></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">"N</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">ow is a unique and pertinent time to research
statelessness from multi-disciplinary perspectives and through a variety of
lenses including natural and social sciences. Furthermore, within the Sustainable
Development Goals discourse, statelessness raises particular concerns because
of the serious ecological threats to our planet, the vulnerabilities associated
with statelessness, and the way that inequalities are reinforced by the
condition."</span></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">In this series of blog posts, we are asking the students honoured in this year's </span><a href="https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/research/institutes-and-research-groups/statelessness/unhcr-award/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">UNHCR Awards for Statelessness Research</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"> about their experiences studying the phenomenon on statelessness and their research findings. Fourth in the series is Ms. </span><span style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #222222; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Helen Brunt</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 20px;"> who received a Certificate of Appreciation from the jury for her graduate the</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">sis </span><em style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">Stateless Stakeholders, seen but not heard? The case of the Sama Dilaut in Sabah, Malaysia, </em><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">written in completion of her degree in Anthropology and Development at the University of Sussex (United Kingdom)</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Could you summarise, in 2 or 3
sentences, what your research was about?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB">Natural resource
management and statelessness are two growing areas of academic study yet
remain, so far, under-researched in combination. In my </span><a href="https://www.academia.edu/4980363/Stateless_Stakeholders_Seen_But_Not_Heard_The_Case_of_the_Sama_Dilaut_in_Sabah_Malaysia"><span lang="EN-GB">Masters dissertation</span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I explored their
relationship. Through the lens of statelessness, I investigated how some
stakeholders are marginalised from participatory processes, </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">how the condition of
statelessness affects the extent to which meaningful participation in marine
conservation management can occur, and how institutions involved in this
management perceive and respond to stateless people. I used a case study of the
Sama Dilaut </span><span lang="EN-GB">(also referred to as ‘Bajau Laut’)</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">, stateless people without
political recognition in Malaysia, </span><span lang="EN-GB">to challenge some of
the assumptions that marine protected areas (MPAs) can provide a win-win
solution for conservation and sustainable development.</span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">What first got you interested
in the problem of statelessness?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB">As a
passionate environmentalist, in 2004 I was thrilled to be offered my ‘dream
job’ coordinating a </span><a href="http://www.sempornaislandsproject.com/"><span lang="EN-GB">community and marine conservation project</span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> in Sabah,
Malaysian Borneo. While I was engaged with indigenous peoples’ issues, ten
years ago I was ignorant to the plight of people with no nationality and no
human rights protection, things that I as a British citizen took for granted.
However, over the course of the next 8 years I became increasingly aware of the
implications of statelessness through first hand experiences and close involvement
with the Sama Dilaut, largely stateless group but who have for centuries lived
in boats and on islands in the waters now overlaid by the current nation-states
of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, yet are not considered to be
citizens of any country. Today, many Sama Dilaut find themselves living in
marine parks or ‘conservation zones’ and, although a key stakeholder group,
rarely participate in management decisions that affect their lives and
livelihoods. My research interests were therefore motivated directly by my
personal experiences.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Why did you choose this
particular research topic?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Whilst
living in Sabah, on an almost daily basis, I saw out of one eye the dire state
of our planet from an environmental perspective, and from the other, I saw
people who were unable to move freely, be legally employed or married, access
affordable healthcare, receive an education or make their voices heard. I saw
such inequalities and barriers to inclusion of the Sama Dilaut in Malaysian
society as being reinforced and perpetuated by their stateless status. Through
my research I wanted to move anthropological and conservationist theories of
stakeholders beyond what I saw as the problematic frameworks of ‘community’,
‘marginalised or minority groups’, and ‘resource users’ which I felt overlooked
a lack of recognition by the state and thus denial of access to rights and
representation allowed by citizenship.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
took the opportunity of dissertation research to examine in more detail the
implications of statelessness on peoples’ every day lives, and to question
whether ‘community participation’ is ever really possible due to the
complexities of power dynamics, issues of visibility and audibility,
conflicting interests, as well as the quality of participatory processes. I
also examined how stateless people in Sabah are portrayed by the state, NGOs
and other stakeholders, how the Sama Dilaut interact with management
authorities and NGOs, and what some of the perceptions and processes are that serve
to sustain the stateless position of the Sama Dilaut.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">I titled my dissertation ‘Stateless Stakeholders, Seen
but not Heard?’ as </span><span lang="EN-GB">although the Sama Dilaut may be ‘seen’ through documentaries
about their traditional lifestyle and livelihoods, and ‘consulted’ by NGOs
espousing ‘participatory’ approaches to natural resource management, as
stateless people they are not ‘heard’ by those whose decisions affect their
lives, and thus they remain peripheral in every sense of the word.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Could you briefly describe how
you went about your research? E.g. did you base it on existing sources – and
were they easy to find? Did you do fieldwork or interviews – and what was that
like?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I chose my research topic due to my existing personal
connections and because marine conservation reflects many of the broad
environmental and social issues facing protected area managers. I also felt
that there was a need to draw out formal and informal connections which reflect
power dynamics and relations between different stakeholders, including the
lived experiences – their reality – of people living in an area where there are
restrictions to accessing the resources on which they depend.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">I approached my research using qualitative and quantitative methods of data
collection and analysis (a ‘mixed methods’ approach), drawing from both primary
and secondary sources. My principle sources were </span><span lang="EN-GB">the
work of academics from the fields of natural resource management, statelessness
and participation, as well as </span><span lang="EN-US">published and unpublished material from policy makers and practitioners
working in marine conservation, including </span><span lang="EN-GB">data
I had collected while coordinating the </span><a href="http://www.sempornaislandsproject.com/"><span lang="EN-GB">Semporna
Islands Project</span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> from 2004 until 2012. I also conducted an
additional 2 months of fieldwork in 2013, which involved </span><span lang="EN-US">conventional anthropological
techniques of participant observation, as well as </span><span lang="EN-GB">interviews
with key stakeholders. Fieldwork was the part of my research that I found the
most inspiring. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">What was the greatest
challenge you had to deal with in undertaking your research?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One challenge I had to deal with was logistical. Despite being
meticulously planned, 3 months prior to my departure, my fieldwork trip threatened
to be seriously disrupted by an ‘incursion’ of my field site in eastern Sabah
by armed rebels from the southern Philippines, who were pursuing a 300-year old
claim to the region. Fortunately, the UK government’s travel advisory was
lifted just weeks before I commenced my fieldwork but it brought to the
forefront some of the challenges of conducting social research in unstable
areas and with vulnerable people.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another
challenge I faced was a personal one. As the coordinator of a multi-stakeholder
project, I had held a unique and interstitial position, through which I
developed an awareness of the complexities surrounding the multiple divisions
of ‘insider:outsider’ at a micro-level. Subsequently, I realised the need to
reflect on my own positionality. The opportunity to return to the field after a
year away, and the research and writing of my Masters dissertation, allowed me
the time and space for this.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Could you briefly summarise
your main findings or conclusions – or what you think is the most important
outcome of your research?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My analysis of the nexus of statelessness,
participation and stakeholders revealed that environmental management is a
complex domain involving power constellations and competing demands for natural
resources as well as equitable benefit sharing. The ability of different
stakeholders to communicate their views is a vital component to the process.
However, in my research I found that a disjuncture has emerged between marine
conservation managers and the stateless Sama Dilaut, a key stakeholder group. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In reality, their vulnerable position as stateless
people is driven by various physical, economic, political and social barriers
to meaningful participation in natural resource management, all of which
overlook the unique aspect of their statelessness. I also exposed the
interstitial position of conservation NGOs at ‘brokers’ who mediate in
‘participatory’ processes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Have you found it rewarding to
research statelessness – why/why not?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Research and writing my
Masters dissertation was one of the most rewarding and cathartic periods of my
life so far. During the process I reflected on the complex social dynamics and
personal dimensions at the locale in which I was involved. I became enlightened to the many advantages
that the inclusion of ethnographic research can bring to conservation and
development. I am now fortunate enough to be working with the Asia Pacific
Refugee Rights Network, and am deeply committed to elevating statelessness on
regional and international platforms, and advocating for the rights of
stateless people around the world. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">What tips would you give to
students who are getting involved in statelessness research to help them? E.g.
are there particular questions you think they should be looking at or
methodological issues they should consider?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB">Echoing </span><a href="http://statelessprog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/unhcr-2014-statelessness-research-award.html"><span lang="EN-GB">Dr Jason Tucker</span></a><span lang="EN-GB">, and as identified during
the First Global Forum on Statelessness commemorating the 60<sup>th</sup>
anniversary of the 1954 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless
Persons, now is a unique and pertinent time to research statelessness from
multi-disciplinary perspectives and through a variety of lenses including
natural and social sciences. Furthermore, within the Sustainable Development
Goals discourse, statelessness raises particular concerns because of the
serious ecological threats to our planet, the vulnerabilities associated with
statelessness, and the way that inequalities are reinforced by the condition. Following
Amal de Chickera’s </span><a href="http://www.statelessness.eu/blog/including-stateless"><span lang="EN-GB">article</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;">, I would also encourage more holistic and ethnographic studies on
statelessness by a wide spectrum of researchers (including the stateless
themselves) in order to unveil the multitude of human stories behind
‘statelessness’.</span><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-52032443943567954522014-10-27T18:28:00.000+01:002014-10-27T18:29:43.802+01:00GUEST POST: Inter-American Court condemns unprecedented situation of statelessness in the Dominican Republic<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: justify;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXmhYl5l6BSDLZwawk4dWBi6DYjfwyLQVaLZyqMxn8pgxmEc5knd9y1x0OCu0Uyu7THjOcjk_VKI59fDARz-fHZzVFAE-SEDHiGRCawKVB1Xk3P_m9zi2mv1C95Be3SIA4Df1pVe5Ov0A/s1600/Francisco+Quintana2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXmhYl5l6BSDLZwawk4dWBi6DYjfwyLQVaLZyqMxn8pgxmEc5knd9y1x0OCu0Uyu7THjOcjk_VKI59fDARz-fHZzVFAE-SEDHiGRCawKVB1Xk3P_m9zi2mv1C95Be3SIA4Df1pVe5Ov0A/s1600/Francisco+Quintana2.png" height="214" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: monospace; text-align: start;">Francisco Quintana at a hearing before the I-A Commission <br />speaking on behalf of the </span><span style="font-family: monospace; text-align: start;">umbrella organisations in <br />DR "Dominicanos por Derechos". (Photo/OAS)</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">On October 22nd, the Inter-American Court of Human
Rights (</span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://corteidh.or.cr/index.php/en"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I-A Court</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">)
published its judgment in the </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://corteidh.or.cr/docs/casos/articulos/seriec_282_esp.pdf"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">Case of Expelled Dominican and Haitian people
vs Dominican Republic</span></i></a></span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">.
</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">The case involved 6 families who were expelled from
that country between 1999 and 2000. Out of the 26 victims, only five
individuals were Haitian nationals. The families were represented by </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://cejil.org/en/comunicados/dominican-republic-condemned-discrimination-massive-expulsions-and-arbitrary-deprivation"><span style="line-height: 115%;">CEJIL</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">
and three other organizations. The ruling touched upon the problem of discrimination
based on skin color; immigration detention; and the “systematic practice of
collective expulsions”. At the heart of the ruling is the issue of prevention
and reduction of statelessness. Since 13 of the victims were children, the
ruling developed some of these rights from the “best interest of the child”
perspective.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Background<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">For almost 100 years (for a fuller analysis see </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.obmica.org/index.php/publicaciones/libros/55-needed-but-unwanted-haitian-immigrants-and-their-descendants-in-the-dominican-republic"><span style="line-height: 115%;">here</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">)
the Dominican Republic (DR) has allowed, either by state-control or private
contracts, the arrival of Haitian workers, who were subjected to poverty and
marginalization derived from their irregular status. International and regional
human rights bodies, including </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/search?page=search&docid=524c0c929&query=dominican%20republic"><span style="line-height: 115%;">UNHCR</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">,
</span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.unicef.org/media/media_70619.html"><span style="line-height: 115%;">UNICEF</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">,
</span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.refworld.org/category,COI,,CONCOBSERVATIONS,DOM,4885cf9dd,0.html"><span style="line-height: 115%;">CEDAW</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">,
</span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.refworld.org/category,COI,,CONCOBSERVATIONS,DOM,47b9601a2,0.html"><span style="line-height: 115%;">CRC</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">,
the </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=46152&Cr=haiti&Cr1=#.VE01yHvK7-Y"><span style="line-height: 115%;">UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">, and the
OAS </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/media_center/PReleases/2013/097.asp"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> (IACHR) have expressed
their deep concern about the discrimination and mass violation of to the right
to nationality that Haitian migrants and their descendants have been suffering.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">From the 1950s to 1990s, a significant number of
children of Haitian descent born in the Dominican Republic were formally
recognized as citizens by registry officials. During that period, there was a
reasonable application of identification required for the parents to register
their children’s births. In the last two decades of the 20th century, some civil
registry officials began requiring official proof of identity, such as passports
or residence cards. The IACHR detected this problem </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/DominicanRep99/Table.htm"><span style="line-height: 115%;">early in
1999</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">: “children do not have documents because
their parents have none.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Since 1929, the supreme law of the land had consistently
established that people “in transit” were one of the two exceptions to the <i>ius soli </i>regime in the DR, with the
other being the children of diplomats. Domestic civil law established 10 days
as the maximum amount of time one can be “in transit.” It was not until the
1980s that this concept was applied more rigidly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Legislative and Constitutional Changes<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">In 2004, the DR reformed its immigration law to incorporate
the requirement of legal residence of foreign parents as the basis for their
children’s acquisition of Dominican nationality. This criterion was upheld by
the Supreme Court in 2005, which established a broad interpretation of the “in
transit” exception. In the period of 2007-2009, Dominican authorities adopted a
series of administrative and judicial actions that made it virtually impossible
to obtain nationality at birth for those affected. During that time, </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/reports/dominicans-haitian-descent-and-compromised-right-nationality"><span style="line-height: 115%;">a consistent
process</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> of arbitrary deprivation of nationality began,
even for people who had enjoyed that right for 10, 20, 30 or more years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">In 2010, the </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.suprema.gov.do/marco_juridico/constitucion.aspx"><span style="line-height: 115%;">new
Dominican Constitution</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> solidified the interpretation of
the law used in the last decade by incorporating a new exception to the <i>ius soli </i>regime: the children of undocumented
residents.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Judicial Denationalization on a Massive Scale<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">On September 23<sup>rd</sup>, 2013, people of
foreign parents born on Dominican soil dating back to 1929 did not know if their
nationality was going to be respected. Their own Constitutional Tribunal </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.fmreview.org/afghanistan/gamboa-harrington"><span style="line-height: 115%;">had
deprived them</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> of that right (</span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://tribunalconstitucional.gob.do/sites/default/files/documentos/Sentencia%20TC%200168-13%20-%20C.pdf"><span style="line-height: 115%;">TC ruling
168/13</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">) by upholding the previous Supreme Court
decision. According to an official survey by the </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://media.onu.org.do/ONU_DO_web/596/sala_prensa_publicaciones/docs/0565341001372885891.pdf"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Dominican
National Bureau for Statistics</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">, an
estimated 200,000 persons were affected by the decision. The numbers could be
greater, as these figures only incorporate the first generation of the affected
group. To date, the Dominican authorities have only recognized less than 25,000
people, of which only 60% are of Haitian descent.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">The implementing law of the TC ruling (</span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.consultoria.gob.do/spaw2/uploads/files/Ley%20No.%20169-14.pdf"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Law 169/14</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">)
does not conceptualize people born in the DR to foreign parents before 2007 as Dominicans.
Although the language could seem neutral on its face, it has a clearly
disproportionate impact on Dominicans of Haitian descent. Law 16/14 divided the
affected population in two groups. The first group, who according to the
preamble of the law “believed” they were nationals because they received
official documents, would obtain nationality because the State recognized its
own administrative mistake, not because they were born on its soil. The second
group, who lacked any kind of document, was directly classified as foreigners
in their own country and obligated to follow a naturalization process.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Inter-American Justice returns to the Dominican Republic<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">In December 2013, the </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/media_center/PReleases/2013/097A.asp"><span style="line-height: 115%;">IACHR visited</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">
the island again only to realize that its previous findings had multiplied by
hundreds of thousands. In the landmark decision of the </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.corteidh.or.cr/docs/casos/articulos/seriec_130_%20ing.pdf"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">Case of the Girls Yean and Bosico (2005)</span></i></a></span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">, </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">the Inter-American
Court established for the first time that the right to nationality could not be
limited based on discriminatory purposes, and that the migration status of the
parents could not be inherited by their children for the purposes of denying
nationality. The Court also stressed the importance of the prevention and
reduction of statelessness when the place of birth is the only requisite that
should be considered for those people that could not acquire a nationality different
from that of the country where they were born.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><i> </i></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Nine years later, in the </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://corteidh.or.cr/docs/casos/articulos/seriec_282_esp.pdf"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">Case of Expelled Dominicans and Haitians
(2014)</span></i></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> ruling, the Inter-American Court
restated its interpretation of Dominican domestic law when it affirmed that it
did not find any reason to change the <i>Yean
and Bosico</i> standard. On the contrary, the Court took this opportunity to
expand its reasoning, when it declared that:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-right: 36pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> a.<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">The
TC ruling 168/13 had retroactively deprived all children born to undocumented
foreign parents since 1929 of their nationality. (para. 313)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-right: 36pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> b.<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">The
criteria used by the TC is discriminatory and contrary to the principle of
equality before the law, since it ignores the characteristics of the person
born in the DR and focuses on the lack of documentation of their parents,
without justifying this distinction.(para. 318)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-right: 36pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> c.<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">The
implementing Law 169/14 creates additional obstacles to the full enjoyment of
the right to nationality, because it requires affected persons to register as
foreigners in their country of birth. This naturalization process is thus <i>per se </i>contrary to the right to
nationality in a country with a <i>jus soli </i>regime<i>. </i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-right: 36pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> d.<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">An
expedited naturalization procedure for a person that is already entitled to a
nationality, irrespective of the time it could last, is contrary to the full
enjoyment of that right. <i>(para. 324)</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-right: 36pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> e.<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">The
obligation to prevent statelessness requires States to have full assurance that
immediately after birth a child would have an effective nationality; absent
that situation, the Inter-American Court declared an <i>ex lege </i>(automatic) obligation to grant the nationality of the
State where the child was born. (paras. 259 to 261) <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-right: 36pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> f.<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">The
Court ordered the Dominican government to take all steps – including at the constitutional,
legislative or judicial level – in order to leave the TC ruling 168, and part
of Law 169/14, without legal effect. (para. 469)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-right: 36pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 36pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><em><b><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Déjà vu</span></b></em><em><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></em><b><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">reaction of the Dominican government<u><o:p></o:p></u></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">In 2005, a month after the <i>Yean and Bosico</i> judgment was issued, Dominican authorities called
the decision “unacceptable” and declared that there was an intent to
“discredit” the country before the international community. One week later the
Dominican Senate </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.wcl.american.edu/hrbrief/13/2baluarte.pdf"><span style="line-height: 115%;">acted in
the same direction</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> by rejecting the ruling of the Inter-American
Court. The 2005 Supreme Court decision previously mentioned also confronted
directly this decision.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">In 2014, the new Inter-American Court ruling has
already sparked the same xenophobic and anti-Haitian sentiments of the past.
Despite the fact that there had been unanimous condemnation of the massive
judicial deprivation of nationality carried out by the TC 168/13 ruling, the Dominican
government continues to deny that discrimination or statelessness even exists
in the country. Only 48 hours after the ruling was made public, the Dominican
Republic </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/244178548/Declaracion-Gobierno-dominicano-rechaza-la-Sentencia-de-la-Corte-Interamericana-de-Derechos-Humanos"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Executive
branch issued a statement</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> rejecting the ruling in
very strong language and bringing up the ancient argument that its own notions
of State sovereignty exempt it from compliance with its binding, freely
accepted international human rights obligations.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Conclusion<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">The Inter-American Court has set a clear example of
how justice should be done when States arbitrarily limit, deny or deprive
persons of their right to nationality. In a </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://cejil.org/en/comunicados/message-viviana-krsticevic-case-expelled-dominican-and-haitian-persons-vs-dominican-repu"><span style="line-height: 115%;">public
statement</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> CEJIL has emphasized that the decisions of
the Court should never be considered an attack to the sovereignty of any State,
but rather an affirmation of a way forward to respect the human rights of all. The
Dominican government has to understand that under international law and the
American Convention on Human Rights, compliance with this judgment is a binding
obligation that cannot be ignored.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The impact that this new ruling could have in other
regions of the world where similar judicial restrictions, ambiguous or
discriminatory interpretations of the law are implemented is unquestionable. We
expect that the international community, academia, and civil society around the
world will take the time to read the judgment and support the struggle for
justice and dignity of hundreds of thousands of people around the world who, just
as in the Dominican Republic, are being deprived of the full enjoyment of their
right to nationality.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Francisco Quintana, Center for Justice and
International Law (CEJIL)</i> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">[This blog was simultaneously posted on the website of the <a href="http://www.statelessness.eu/blog/inter-american-court-condemns-unprecedented-situation-statelessness-dominican-republic" target="_blank">European Network on Statelessness</a>]</span></span></div>
</div>
Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-18215830186135413832014-10-27T10:46:00.001+01:002014-10-29T10:39:22.326+01:00UNHCR 2014 Statelessness Research Award interviews... Maria Jose Recalde Vela<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz7nAKlaKa9ET92jx_YMKbYg8-NujxluusTSc9Gu74pMKIU2fKJu0WNp79UuV1SSZ3Ipr0IHCUCxoK9C1Jy24DHD5Cd2uFA3yYRtay7htQg6rnwgvPQZlaB4wI69YHafE4UMrC8JPbQTY/s1600/Maria.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz7nAKlaKa9ET92jx_YMKbYg8-NujxluusTSc9Gu74pMKIU2fKJu0WNp79UuV1SSZ3Ipr0IHCUCxoK9C1Jy24DHD5Cd2uFA3yYRtay7htQg6rnwgvPQZlaB4wI69YHafE4UMrC8JPbQTY/s1600/Maria.jpg" height="200" width="156" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">"The vulnerability of stateless
persons to all sorts of human rights violations made me want to somehow help
make their situation a little bit better. What I find so heart-breaking about
statelessness is precisely the impact this phenomenon has on the individual’s
identity: being told you do not belong in the place you identify with can be
devastating, as it can make one question who one really is." </span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In this series of blog posts, we are asking the students honoured in this year's <a href="https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/research/institutes-and-research-groups/statelessness/unhcr-award/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">UNHCR Award for Statelessness Research</a> about their experiences studying the phenomenon on statelessness and their research findings. Third in the series is Ms. <span style="background-color: white; border: none; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Maria Jose Recalde Vela </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">whose thesis </span><em style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">How can identity assert a claim to citizenship? In search of a safeguard against statelessness from a legal and socio-psychological perspective. </em><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"> submitted in completion of the Liberal Arts Programme at Tilburg University (the Netherlands)</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>was chosen by the Jury as the Best Research in the Graduate Category.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Could you summarise, in 2 or 3 sentences, what your
research was about?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My research was about exploring how a person’s identity develops in
relation to the place and groups a person is influenced by (such as the place
one grows up in and the society one grows up around) and whether this identity
can somehow be used as a safeguard against statelessness. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">What first got you interested in the problem of
statelessness?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I first became interested in the problem of statelessness after taking the
course at Tilburg University taught by Dr. van Waas during my second year of
Liberal Arts and Sciences. I had never heard of stateless before; until I took
the course I never even though there were people in this planet without a
nationality! Nationality is something that we take for granted, so it is very
shocking to find out that there’s around 10 million people without a
nationality. What got me so interested in the issue is that the impact
statelessness has on the individual is very deep. Stateless persons are not
only deprived of basic civil and political rights such as voting for example,
but are also affected at an individual and personal level. I am not sure if
research has been done on this, but I am sure that statelessness has a massive
impact in the individual’s mental and emotional well-being. The vulnerability
of stateless persons to all sorts of human rights violations made me want to
somehow help make their situation a little bit better. What I find so
heart-breaking about statelessness is precisely the impact this phenomenon has
on the individual’s identity: being told you do not belong in the place you
identify with can be devastating, as it can make one question who one really
is. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Why did you choose this particular research topic?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">I always took nationality for granted, but at the same time, I was always
confused by it. What was always strange is that I always felt like I am not
from one single place, but from every place I have lived in. in my short years,
I have lived in a few countries (so far, 4), and every time I moved to a new place
I developed an attachment to that place, and I developed a feeling of belonging
to that place, even if in paper it was not that way and in paper I have one
nationality. I started thinking about this and while I was reading Dr. van
Waas’ book I came across a section which describes what the “genuine link” is.
The genuine link is the social fact of attachment of an individual with a
state, and the genuine link is the basis for nationality. The ICJ described
nationality as</span><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"> </span></i><i><span style="color: #222222;">“a legal bond having as its basis a social fact of attachment, a genuine
connection of existence.” </span></i><span style="color: #222222;">So in other words, nationality is a legal reflection of this social fact of
attachment between individual and state. But state not as in government; state
as in, country, homeland, nation-state, etc. A place, a society. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Then I started thinking how we
develop these social facts of attachment with the places we live in and how
this attachment shapes our identities. I felt like my identity has been heavily
shaped by every country I have lived in, and this influence the places have had
on my identity have contributed to my attachment to these places. I am attached
to a place, I feel like I belong there, I have a social fact of attachment to
this place. And what is nationality? A reflection of this social fact of
attachment. If a person like me has become attached to a place and feels like
she belongs there only from having lived a few years there, there is no way any
state can tell me that a person who has lived his/her entire life in the same
country, many times in the same area, has no social fact of attachment to that
country and does not belong there. Many, if not most, stateless persons live
their entire lives in the same place for a great number of reasons. However,
the challenge for this was that it is not easy to prove a social fact of
attachment; it is not something tangible, like a birth certificate for example.
A social fact of attachment can mean anything! I thought maybe identity can
help solve this problem. However, identity can also be anything! Therefore, I
chose to focus on 3 socio-psychological theories that helped me to explain how
a person’s identity develops in relation to the place and the society a person
grows up in. while doing research, I came across an interesting principle that
was proposed by Manley O Hudson: jus connectionis. I had only heard about the
jus soli (law of the soil), jus sanguinis (law of blood) and jus domicili (law
of residence) for nationality attribution. Jus connectionis? Never heard of it.
But it caught my attention. Jus connectionis takes into consideration a
person’s connections and identity for determining nationality. Jus
connectionis, however, does not have the same status as jus sanguinis, jus soli
and jus domicili; it is a theory, a thought, a proposal, an idea. But I thought
it was definitely worth looking into, particularly since it could contribute to
my search for a safeguard against statelessness. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Could you briefly describe how you went about your
research? E.g. did you base it on existing sources – and were they easy to
find? Did you do fieldwork or interviews – and what was that like?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I based my research 100% on existing sources; it was a literature review.
Carrying out field research on this topic would be very helpful but very
complicated due to language barriers and due to the fact that it would take a
long time to carry out the interviews and process all the data. Therefore, I
based it on all sorts of literature I was able to find. It was challenging to
find the literature I needed for it, as you know, there is not much information
out there on stateless persons. I was lucky to find some reports in which
stateless persons described their feelings of belonging to the place where they
had grown up their entire lives.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">What was the greatest challenge you had to deal with
in undertaking your research?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The greatest challenge was definitely finding literature, since there is
not much information out there that can give us a clear view into the
identities of stateless persons. One of the most difficult parts was reading
and actually understanding the socio-psychological theories and being able to
explain them in writing. In Liberal Arts and Sciences, I majored in law, so
almost every course I took was a law course. Therefore, I was used to reading
legal texts and understanding them. However, social sciences texts,
particularly social psychology ones were very confusing for me! I took a few
social sciences courses during my bachelor, but none on social psychology, so
it was very challenging to read and understand the texts. It was also a lot of
fun to get to explore an area that I found so interesting but I was very
unfamiliar with. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Could you briefly summarise your main findings or
conclusions – or what you think is the most important outcome of your research?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">-Citizenship is the legal “confirmation” of a person’s belonging to a
group; it cannot be determined simply by looking at a person (this is a
rejection of ethnicity and race as the basis of citizenship). A “social fact of
attachment” must be determined for citizenship to be properly attributed to an
individual<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">-the social fact of attachment is not tangible; it is embedded in the
individual’s identity, so it is important to see how this identity developed
and what influenced it. The 3 theories of identity can help explain how
identity develops in relation to place and group. Our identities are influenced
by our surroundings and the people who surround us. It can be said that the
development of our identity is influenced by the country we live in.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">-the principles of jus soli and jus sanguinis, which are meant to prove
membership through birth on the territory or through blood, are unable to
prevent people from becoming stateless, due to strict application of these
principles by some states. This strict application makes it easy to exclude
people from the citizenry, even though many of these excluded persons have
social facts of attachment with said state.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">-the principle of jus connectionis which takes into account connections and
attachment to a place fills this gap left by the jus soli and jus sanguinis
principles. Therefore, the principle of jus connectionis, since it takes into
account identity, could serve as a safeguard against statelessness for persons
who are excluded from the citizenry since they have no legal claims to
citizenship through birth or through blood but do have a claim through their
social fact of attachment to their homeland.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Have you found it rewarding to research statelessness
– why / why not?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I have found doing research on statelessness—and nationality—the most
rewarding experience of my life. I was lucky to intern at the statelessness
programme last semester and it was the best, and now I am writing my master
thesis on nationality, which I absolutely love. While it focuses on
nationality, the idea behind it is finding a new way to help stateless persons.
Once you jump on the statelessness train, you won’t be getting off for a long
time. There is still so much research to be done that you will never run out of
ideas on new things to research on.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">What tips would you give to students who are getting
involved in statelessness research to help them? E.g. are there particular
questions you think they should be looking at or methodological issues they
should consider?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Find a topic you find interesting, it will make the process (it’s a long
and considerably exhausting process) very enjoyable. I really hope someday
someone can go out into the field and carry out interviews to find out more
about the identities of the stateless individuals interviewed and maybe use
some of the theoretical background I presented in my thesis and use their field
results and see what happens! It would be a very large project that would
benefit from an interdisciplinary approach, but if it ever happens I will
definitely read that paper! I think in terms of finding concrete solutions for
statelessness there is a lot of research that can be done, particularly looking
into how specific countries or regions can find concrete solutions for
statelessness in their territories or in the region. Theory-wise, there is so
much to do! I am fascinated by the theoretical issues. For example finding the
“core” of nationality, or finding concrete reasons to why this concept, which
was meant to include and bond people over their belonging to a place, actually
has left gaps in the law and its implementation that have rendered millions
stateless. One of the problems I had was that there is not much literature out
there, so any contributions to the literature are always welcome, and from any
discipline! I am not an expert but I feel like statelessness cannot be
addressed only from only one discipline: it is such a complex issue that it
needs contributions from various disciplines for a better understanding of it,
and I think that once we understand an issue it is easier to find concrete
long-lasting solutions to it.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-50512340913908091522014-10-23T15:11:00.000+02:002014-10-27T10:46:59.202+01:00UNHCR 2014 Statelessness Research Award interviews... Caia Vlieks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV-EMqZUC2SPVdMQiCGEJ6eehVlYdOlFHS7VFOSX6ovD3V4c43UGWFj8Z9EYod6TBW5EPC4aTGQ52GW-6i3I-wpeSIksRLWN2iliXzEkJyzIi7LDat_DV6O_QzYPAT6ry_f-MuCLs5UIc/s1600/Caia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV-EMqZUC2SPVdMQiCGEJ6eehVlYdOlFHS7VFOSX6ovD3V4c43UGWFj8Z9EYod6TBW5EPC4aTGQ52GW-6i3I-wpeSIksRLWN2iliXzEkJyzIi7LDat_DV6O_QzYPAT6ry_f-MuCLs5UIc/s1600/Caia.jpg" height="200" width="134" /></span></a><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #222222;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">"My research experiences during
this project have been great. For me it was a perfect combination of doing
truly legal research – studying case law of my favorite Court – and at the same
time being able to use my own creativity – linking the interpretations of the
Court to determination of a person’s statelessness – in order to contribute to
the body of knowledge on the issue of statelessness and hopefully help
stateless persons in claiming their rights in legal proceedings"</span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #222222;">In this series of blog posts, we will be asking the students honoured in this year's <a href="https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/research/institutes-and-research-groups/statelessness/unhcr-award/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">UNHCR Award for Statelessness Research</a> about their experiences studying the phenomenon on statelessness and their research findings. Second in the series is Ms. Caia Vlieks, whose masters thesis entitled<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>"</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #003366; line-height: 20px;">A European human rights obligation for statelessness determination?</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">", </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">written in completion of her LLM in International Human Rights Law at Tilburg University (the Netherlands),<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>was chosen by the Jury as the Best Research in the Graduate Category.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #222222;">Could you
summarise, in 2 or 3 sentences, what your research was about?</span></b><b><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;">My research explored whether it is possible to distil
an obligation for states to determine a person’s statelessness from the
European Convention on Human Rights. More specifically, the research project
assessed the case law of the European Court of Human Rights on the articles of
the Convention that have the clearest links with determination of statelessness</span><span class="MsoCommentReference">.</span><span style="color: #222222;"> These are Article 3 (the
prohibition of torture), Article 8 (the right to respect for private and family
life), Article 13 (the right to an effective remedy) and Article 14 (the
prohibition of torture). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #222222;">What first got you interested in the problem of
statelessness?</span></b><b><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It was during the first year of my Research Master in
Law at Tilburg University that I heard about statelessness. Credits go to the
staff of the Statelessness Program at Tilburg University, who actively gave
guest lectures during, for instance, a course on human rights law. Initially,
my interest for the problem of statelessness focused on stateless Roma, but I
learned that there are more groups affected by statelessness. What caught me
was the legal limbo stateless persons find themselves in, and the grave
consequences that this can have. Also, I discovered that there are many more
legal aspects of statelessness have not been the topic of research, making it
an even more interesting and deserving of further research.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #222222;">Why did you choose this particular research topic?</span></b><b><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As my knowledge on the topic of statelessness grew, I
became fascinated by the definition of a stateless person in international law.
This definition says that a stateless person is “a person who is not considered
as a national by any state under the operation of its law”. However, only when
is established that a stateless person is a stateless person, <i>ergo</i> a stateless person under the
aforementioned definition, that person can rely on the specific rights for
stateless persons. As such, statelessness determination appears to be
prerequisite for enjoyment of specific rights for stateless persons. I
therefore decided I wanted to consider statelessness determination in my research.
As the European Convention on Human Rights has been a legal document that
inspired me throughout my studies, I decided to explore whether this instrument
contains an (implicit) obligation for states to determine a person’s
statelessness.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #222222;">Could you briefly describe how you went about your
research? E.g. did you base it on existing sources – and were they easy to
find? Did you do fieldwork or interviews – and what was that like?</span></b><b><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I based my research on case law of the European Court
of Human Rights and tried to link existing cases to the issues that stateless persons
encounter in their daily lives and which are related to the fact that their
statelessness has not been determined/recognized. To be able to do this, I
informed myself about the situations of stateless persons, for instance using
the <i>‘Mapping Statelessness in …’</i>-reports
of UNHCR. Furthermore, I did not only use case law, but also commentaries on
the Convention and the interpretation methods of the Court, as well as
commentaries on specific cases. To this end, I conducted a literature and case
law searches and studies. I found the more general commentaries on the
interpretations of the Court to be particularly helpful, as these could point
me to interesting lines of reasoning for my research and landmark cases.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #222222;">What was the greatest challenge you had to deal with
in undertaking your research?</span></b><b><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The greatest challenge was probably to make a
selection of case law and being creative in finding possibilities for linking
the Court’s line of reasoning to stateless determination. The amount of case
law is overwhelming and it was a challenge not to get lost therein. In this
process, the focus of my research on statelessness determination helped me to
zoom in on the proper cases.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #222222;">Could you briefly summarise your main findings or
conclusions – or what you think is the most important outcome of your research?</span></b><b><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">By analyzing the four articles of the Convention with
the clearest links to statelessness determination, my research sheds light on
whether this Convention obliges states to determine statelessness. First of
all, the study shows that statelessness is an issue that is to be taken into
account in considerations regarding any of these articles. However, the extent
to which varies. For instance, under Articles 3 and 8 of the Convention,
expulsion and removal are issues that trigger an obligation for statelessness
determination in particular. In other circumstances, for example involving
Article 13, it may be unlikely that the Court obliges a state to really
determine statelessness, because the consequences of statelessness can be taken
into account without putting a label of ‘statelessness’ on them. Yet, it is
important to emphasize that the analysis demonstrates that statelessness can
play a role in considerations involving each of the Articles. This evidences
that statelessness, and therefore, the determination thereof, is an issue that
states should concern all States Parties to the Convention in order to fulfil
their obligations under – at least – Articles 3, 8, 13 and 14 thereof.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #222222;">Have you found it rewarding to research statelessness
– why / why not?</span></b><b><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;">My research experiences during this project have been
great. For me it was a perfect combination of doing truly legal research – studying
case law of my favorite Court – and at the same time being able to use my own
creativity – linking the interpretations of the Court to determination of a
person’s statelessness – in order to contribute to the body of knowledge on the
issue of statelessness and hopefully help stateless persons in claiming their
rights in legal proceedings. What was particularly rewarding was that the </span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.statelessness.eu/"><span lang="EN-US">European Network on Statelessness (ENS)</span></a></span><span style="color: #222222;"> took an interest in my
research. Recently, </span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.statelessness.eu/resources/obligation-statelessness-determination-under-european-convention-human-rights"><span lang="EN-US">ENS’s first discussion paper</span></a></span><span style="color: #222222;"> was published, which is based
on my Master’s Thesis. It deals with possibilities for litigating for the
obligation to determine statelessness under the European Convention on Human Rights.
I am very grateful for this, as my research will now reach even more people
working on the issue of statelessness, including persons who litigate on behalf
of stateless persons.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #222222;">What tips would you give to students who are getting
involved in statelessness research to help them? E.g. are there particular
questions you think they should be looking at or methodological issues they
should consider?</span></b><b><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When doing legal research like I did, I sometimes felt
that I was working a bit far from practice – what stateless persons experience
in their daily lives – and it made me wonder whether my research could truly
contribute to a better life for them. I therefore think it is important to
remember that statelessness is an issue that affects over 10 million people
around the globe, and that all types of innovative and creative research, also
legal research, are most welcome if we want to protect them and, in the end, eradicate
statelessness.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</div>
Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-26176002775371634802014-10-21T15:58:00.001+02:002014-10-21T16:00:25.455+02:00UNHCR 2014 Statelessness Research Award interviews... Jason Tucker<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative;">
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw96bc2OhM4F-PtK7mhuqpZOpMjh4u1HpDoo0wXoekyM59PfZUG3K947WkiStxdIv4xEkzLZnQ-suFSytcTwvNLDg6ozO_wo2PJOGTZN6ciPFop46eMDs1rAldPEZnFw8SDTaWYtAzyQU/s1600/Jason.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw96bc2OhM4F-PtK7mhuqpZOpMjh4u1HpDoo0wXoekyM59PfZUG3K947WkiStxdIv4xEkzLZnQ-suFSytcTwvNLDg6ozO_wo2PJOGTZN6ciPFop46eMDs1rAldPEZnFw8SDTaWYtAzyQU/s1600/Jason.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Statelessness challenged my preconceived
notions about citizenship, which I naively assumed everyone had. Statelessness
facilitated a new way to consider citizenship, the nation-state and global
citizenship. However, as I learnt more and encountered the devastation that
statelessness causes to people’s lives, what began as an intellectual
challenge, quickly turned into an all consuming cause".</span></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
<br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">
In this series of blog posts, we will be asking the students honoured in this
year's <a href="https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/research/institutes-and-research-groups/statelessness/unhcr-award/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">UNHCR Award for Statelessness Research</span></a> about their
experiences studying the phenomenon on statelessness and their research
findings. First in the series is Dr Jason Tucker, whose doctoral thesis
entitled<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>"</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><em><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Challenging
the tyranny of citizenship: Statelessness in Lebanon</span></em><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">", </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">which
earned him his PhD at the Department of Social and Political Sciences of the
University of Bath (United Kingdom),<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>was
chosen by the Jury as the Best Research in the Doctoral Category.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</h3>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<b style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Could you
summarise, in 2 or 3 sentences, what your research was about?</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nation-states, are a
relevantly new concept. They are fluid, arbitrarily conceived and being
constantly contested. Similarly, citizenship, as a legal bond between and
individual and a state, can be seen in the same light. Statelessness, it is
argued in my research, is a consequence of the linking of these two much
contested concepts. By viewing the nation-state, citizenship and global
citizenship through the eyes of those trying to address statelessness, we gain
a more nuanced understanding of them individually as well as their relationship.
<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">What first got
you interested in the problem of statelessness?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was doing research on
Sudanese refugees in Cairo in 2010. The women I was working with could not
access their consulate, register the births of their children and didn’t even
have refugee status. Later, on learning
about the succession of South Sudan, I began to consider the impact this would
have on these women. How would they claim/confirm their citizenship? Would it
be in Sudan or South Sudan? Would they have a choice? And what would happen if
they ended up with no citizenship at all? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At the time there was very
little written about statelessness, and trying to grapple with the idea
provided an irresistible intellectual challenge. It challenged my preconceived
notions about citizenship, which I naively assumed everyone had. Statelessness
facilitated a new way to consider citizenship, the nation-state and global
citizenship. However, as I learnt more and encountered the devastation that
statelessness causes to people’s lives, what began as an intellectual
challenge, quickly turned into an all consuming cause.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Why did you
choose this particular research topic?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lebanon, with many stateless
populations, provided a rich empirical setting to undertake my research. It
also allowed me to include the stateless Palestinians, who at the time were
peripheral in statelessness debates. I am glad to see that this is changing
slightly as of late. Empirical richness was needed as the research was
exploratory, and required contextual complexity and various large stateless
groups with differing claims to compare. Further to this, while there was some
information about statelessness in Lebanon, much more information was, and
still is, needed. It is a vast problem in the country, a problem that is being
insufficiently tackled. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Could you
briefly describe how you went about your research? E.g. did you base it on
existing sources – and were they easy to find? Did you do fieldwork or
interviews – and what was that like?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Global citizenship was the
main theoretical current in my research. So initially it was to the abundant
literature on this that I turned. However, a theme soon emerged, one that I
thought was in danger of weakening the foundations of the various global
citizenship theories. People who act as global citizens were implicitly or
explicitly assumed to have citizenship of a state/political community in both
modern and more classical conceptualisations. The contemporary models see
citizenship of a nation-state as a means to judge a person’s act of citizenship
as one that is global, having an expanded moral obligation <i>beyond their nation-state</i> into the trans-national/global realm. The
stateless had not been adequately considered, so 10 million people in the world
could not act as global citizens under many of the dominant theories. If global
citizenship excludes the stateless, how can it be global? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This, however, did not lead to
my rejection of global citizenship, in which I place great value. A new
approach was therefore needed to overcome these theoretical concerns. By
considering global citizenship through the eyes of those addressing statelessness
in Lebanon, some of whom are stateless, I was able to provide a new theoretical
approach to assessing acts of global citizenship. I spent three months in
Lebanon undertaking interviews, participant observation and engaging with the many
stateless communities and key actors. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">What was the
greatest challenge you had to deal with in undertaking your research?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Initially it was the lack of
existing literature on statelessness. However, this provided an opportunity as
well as a challenge, as there was a gap that needed filling. The work available
at the time could be divided into legal analysis, which often left out the
human element, or work on the human element that often ignored the legal
analysis, and as a consequence labelled many groups stateless, who actually were
not. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This division was never more
obvious than when presenting my research. When speaking to those in the social
sciences they would often question why I had such a ridged legal definition of
who is stateless. When speaking to lawyers they would wonder why I treated
citizenship and the nation-state as such ambiguous and arbitrary terms. The
middle ground, linking the human and the legal was a challenging and highly
rewarding place to be. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">Could you
briefly summarise your main findings or conclusions – or what you think is the
most important outcome of your research?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The main findings on a
theoretical level was a new means by which we can conceptualise global
citizenship that includes the stateless. However, the more pragmatic findings
were of greater interest to me. Statelessness highlights the weakness of the
current ‘ownership’ of citizenship by nation-states. This is a relatively modern link, and I
shifted the burden of justification for discussing the concept of citizenship
outside of the nation-state, on to those who assume this to be citizenship's
natural place. In fact, citizenship does not have a natural place within the
nation-state. Nation-states have laid claim to it and present the current system
as if it was ahistorical. But the existence of statelessness highlights that
this is by no means a natural place for citizenship to be. Nothing shows this
more clearly than protracted cases of statelessness, where generation after
generation languish outside of the nation-state system. Statelessness, is a
consequence of this flawed relationship, and highlights the weaknesses of the
current nation-state system. To strengthen itself, it is argued in the research,
the nation-state system, individually and collectively, should look to end
statelessness. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">What tips would
you give to students who are getting involved in statelessness research to help
them? E.g. are there particular questions you think they should be looking at
or methodological issues they should consider?</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I would advise to look at it
using an inter-disciplinary approach. It seems like a buzzword now, but I think
there is enormous value in it for understanding statelessness. This is because
it stems from a legal phenomenon, however its impacts are human and have a
significant impact from the level of the individual, their family, their
community, the countries they reside in and the international community. To
tackle statelessness we need more research, a greater level of understanding of
the causes and consequences, and this is most achievable if we embrace varied
and diverse perspectives. </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-15891265805894690422014-10-17T14:55:00.003+02:002014-10-17T14:55:38.102+02:00GUEST POST: "A small step, perhaps, but a move in the right direction to help 600,000 people find somewhere to call home"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.0063037872314px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYiQkPhVC_Qq9lY0BOX1CI9BJa5fr_h64oCLXDCV-AsQSZ3ogUJ7JYjA5UjXISC_GXPiyWoGWjnshuZImUxgJNlSeR3S31xwIYOyePw6Som12sQHOH7VQmyGb0gK_J0JXgbnO7CtwiddQ/s1600/IMG_5885.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYiQkPhVC_Qq9lY0BOX1CI9BJa5fr_h64oCLXDCV-AsQSZ3ogUJ7JYjA5UjXISC_GXPiyWoGWjnshuZImUxgJNlSeR3S31xwIYOyePw6Som12sQHOH7VQmyGb0gK_J0JXgbnO7CtwiddQ/s1600/IMG_5885.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is how <a data-mce-href="http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1410/14/ampr.01.html" href="http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1410/14/ampr.01.html" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">CNN</a> reported on the European Network on Statelessness (ENS) <a data-mce-href="http://www.statelessness.eu/act-now-on-statelessness" href="http://www.statelessness.eu/act-now-on-statelessness" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">campaign to protect stateless persons in Europe</a> after we handed over our online petition at an event in the European Parliament on Tuesday evening. Aside from pleasant surprise that CNN had picked up on our campaign, it struck me as a pretty good description of what we as a Network have managed to achieve over the last year since the <a data-mce-href="http://www.statelessness.eu/news-events/news/ens-launches-campaign-protect-stateless-persons-europe" href="http://www.statelessness.eu/news-events/news/ens-launches-campaign-protect-stateless-persons-europe" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">launch</a> of our campaign in October 2013.<b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></b></span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.0063037872314px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">You can never properly evaluate the impact of a campaign in its immediate aftermath but some positives conclusions can already be drawn about the campaign’s contribution to the fast accelerating emergence of statelessness as an issue finally attracting widespread international attention. It’s hugely encouraging that over 7,000 individuals from across Europe have made the effort to sign our online petition calling for:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">1) All European States to accede to the 1954 Statelessness Convention<b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">2) All European states to introduce a functioning statelessness determination procedure<b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s true that in the larger scheme of things, this signature count is not so high compared to some other online petitions (e.g. which relate to issues attracting mass media coverage or that are fuelled by organisations with weighty communications machinery which ENS could only dream about). So it’s actually accurate and in no way belittling for CNN to describe the campaign as “a small step, perhaps” but “a move in the right direction to help 600,000 people find somewhere to call home”. It’s certainly true that we need to take many more and much bigger strides if we are to truly address the situation of not only Europe’s 600,000 stateless but also the estimated 10 million persons across the globe who are afflicted by this man-made phenomenon.<b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></b></span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.0063037872314px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But 7,000 signatures is undoubtedly an impressive figure when you consider that statelessness has for decades been a niche and largely forgotten issue. Factor in also that our campaign period has coincided with ENS <a data-mce-href="http://www.statelessness.eu/news-events/news/ens-re-launches-independent-charity" href="http://www.statelessness.eu/news-events/news/ens-re-launches-independent-charity" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">transitioning into an independent charity</a> (and all the work that this entails) and the limited resources at our disposal, we can be rightly proud of our efforts. So now is a good moment to say a massive thank you to all our members who supported the campaign as well as to those many other organisations outside our immediate Network (too many to mention here) who helped disseminate our petition.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">And beyond shedding a much needed spotlight on the statelessness issue in a broader sense, there are already some encouraging signs of tangible impact through reforms announced in two of the countries which ENS prioritised in its campaign activities, namely Italy and the Netherlands. At an event organised in Rome by ENS member the Italian Refugee Council, the Italian government committed by the end of the year to table a draft law aimed at simplifying and improving the existing administrative procedure to recognise the status of statelessness. In the Netherlands, growing pressure from civil society organisations, UNHCR, the National Human Rights Institute, the Advisory Council on Migration Affairs and practicing lawyers led to the recognition by the competent ministry in September 2014 that a statelessness determination procedure is needed and the announcement that the ministry will work towards its establishment. In other countries such as Ireland, Poland and Slovakia the campaign impact fell short of such firm commitments but observers described increased awareness having created a dialogue to progress reform in the coming years.<b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Tuesday’s <a data-mce-href="http://www.statelessness.eu/news-events/news/event-announcement-taking-ens-campaign-european-parliament" href="http://www.statelessness.eu/news-events/news/event-announcement-taking-ens-campaign-european-parliament" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">event</a> hosted by Jean Lambert MEP in the European Parliament was the culmination of the ENS campaign, and featured presentations by UNHCR Europe Bureau Director, Vincent Cochetel, and the award-winning photographer, Greg Constantine, who screened a photo essay on statelessness in the Netherlands (supported by ENS and the Tilburg Statelessness Programme). The petition was formally received by Cecilia Wickstrom MEP, Chair of the Parliament’s Petitions Committee, who made an impassioned acceptance speech which bodes well for future influence the Petitions Committee can hopefully bring to bear on other EU institutions in terms of stepping up their engagement on statelessness. It was also encouraging to see the room packed with over 60 people, including approximately 10 MEPs who had taken time out of their busy schedules in order to attend the event. The end of the ENS campaign has also been (or will be) marked by national-level events organised by ENS members in Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland and Slovakia. The ENS campaign <a data-mce-href="http://www.statelessness.eu/news-events/news/today-ens-hands-over-its-petition-european-parliament" href="http://www.statelessness.eu/news-events/news/today-ens-hands-over-its-petition-european-parliament" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">day of action</a> was covered not only by CNN but also by <a data-mce-href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/14/us-foundation-europe-stateless-idUSKCN0I30IQ20141014" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/14/us-foundation-europe-stateless-idUSKCN0I30IQ20141014" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thomson Reuters</a>.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.0063037872314px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Recognising that statelessness is often dismissed as an impenetrably technical and legal anomaly, an important aspect of our communications work has been to try to put a human face on the issue, including through the production of several short <a data-mce-href="http://www.statelessness.eu/issues/films" href="http://www.statelessness.eu/issues/films" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">films</a> by ENS or its members. A key element of this approach was the commissioning of a short animation <a data-mce-href="http://www.statelessness.eu/act-now-on-statelessness/what-is-the-issue" href="http://www.statelessness.eu/act-now-on-statelessness/what-is-the-issue" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Everyone has the right to a nationality</i></a> which proved hugely successful in raising awareness about the plight of stateless migrants in Europe and in encouraging petition signatures. Just one illustration of this is that UNHCR’s Facebook post of the animated film attracted almost 500 likes in a day. The petition and animation were also featured in mailings by ECRE, ICVA, IDC, APRRN and the Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog to name but a few. And many ENS members placed the campaign prominently on their own websites and/or tweeted, posted or emailed the petition to their networks. These combined efforts saw the petition being mailed out to thousands of professional and personal contacts, and the animation has now been viewed over 5000 times on YouTube alone. ENS has also seen over 400 new likes of its <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/EuropeanNetworkOnStatelessness" href="https://www.facebook.com/EuropeanNetworkOnStatelessness" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Facebook page</a>, and its mailing list has grown exponentially.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">From the start the petition was presented and disseminated on social media along with <a data-mce-href="http://www.statelessness.eu/issues/faces-of-statelessness" href="http://www.statelessness.eu/issues/faces-of-statelessness" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">first hand testimonies from stateless persons</a> hosted on the ENS website. A feature on these snapshots of stateless people was published in English and French in <a data-mce-href="http://www.fmreview.org/afghanistan/ENS" href="http://www.fmreview.org/afghanistan/ENS" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Forced Migration Review</a> with a link to the petition. Twenty shorter testimonies were also gathered through research by ENS members in 11 European countries and published in a new report <a data-mce-href="http://www.statelessness.eu/news-events/news/ens-launches-new-report-still-stateless-still-suffering-why-europe-must-act-now" href="http://www.statelessness.eu/news-events/news/ens-launches-new-report-still-stateless-still-suffering-why-europe-must-act-now" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Still Stateless, Still Suffering</i></a> which was formally launched in the event in the European Parliament on Tuesday. While just a small snapshot of Europe’s total stateless population, these too long unheard voices speak powerfully to the human impact that statelessness has on people living in Europe, including destitution, long term immigration detention and being stuck in indefinite limbo unable to be removed but equally unable to belong or contribute to scoiety.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.0063037872314px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The campaign has garnered media coverage in several languages across many European countries. In the UK there have been articles in respected publications with broad readerships such as <a data-mce-href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/state-of-the-stateless-meet-steven-a-man-who-cant-work-because-he-doesnt-exist-9468476.html" href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/state-of-the-stateless-meet-steven-a-man-who-cant-work-because-he-doesnt-exist-9468476.html" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Independent </a>, <a data-mce-href="http://www.trust.org/item/20140527065703-mwlxb" href="http://www.trust.org/item/20140527065703-mwlxb" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thomson Reuters</a> and <a data-mce-href="http://equaltimes.org/europe-campaigners-demand#.U6lAfRPjjct" href="http://equaltimes.org/europe-campaigners-demand#.U6lAfRPjjct" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Equal Times</a>. The issue has been widely covered in the Slovak Republic, with two articles published in Slovak on major news websites; <a data-mce-href="http://www.hlavnespravy.sk/vznikla-internetova-peticia-na-ochranu-osob-bez-statnej-prislusnosti/271614" href="http://www.hlavnespravy.sk/vznikla-internetova-peticia-na-ochranu-osob-bez-statnej-prislusnosti/271614" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hlavné Správy</a> and <a data-mce-href="http://aktualne.atlas.sk/vznikla-internetova-peticia-na-ochranu-osob-bez-statnej-prislusnosti/zahranicie/europa/" href="http://aktualne.atlas.sk/vznikla-internetova-peticia-na-ochranu-osob-bez-statnej-prislusnosti/zahranicie/europa/" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">actuálne.sk</a>. In Belgium, various articles were published, including in the influential and popular <a data-mce-href="http://www.mo.be/nieuws/iedereen-heeft-recht-op-een-nationaliteit" href="http://www.mo.be/nieuws/iedereen-heeft-recht-op-een-nationaliteit" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mo Magazine</a>. The petition also benefitted from media coverage across the Netherlands, with Dutch articles featuring on the <a data-mce-href="http://njb.nl/nieuws/online-petitie-gelanceerd-voor-staatlozen-ook-in.12227.lynkx" href="http://njb.nl/nieuws/online-petitie-gelanceerd-voor-staatlozen-ook-in.12227.lynkx" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Nederlands Juristenblad</a>, <a data-mce-href="http://tilburg.com/nieuws/online-petitie-gelanceerd-voor-staatlozen-ook-nederland/" href="http://tilburg.com/nieuws/online-petitie-gelanceerd-voor-staatlozen-ook-nederland/" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Tilburg.com</a> and <a data-mce-href="http://www.wereldjournalisten.nl/artikel/2014/05/29/online_petitie_voor_staatlozen/" href="http://www.wereldjournalisten.nl/artikel/2014/05/29/online_petitie_voor_staatlozen/" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Wereldjournalisten.nl</a>. The issue of statelessness was given radio coverage on 35 local stations and 2 national stations in Ireland via <a data-mce-href="https://www.newstalk.ie/Man-living-in-Ireland-declared-stateless" href="https://www.newstalk.ie/Man-living-in-Ireland-declared-stateless" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Newstalk</a>, and two articles were published in <a data-mce-href="http://www.thejournal.ie/immigrant-stateless-services-1488621-May2014/" href="http://www.thejournal.ie/immigrant-stateless-services-1488621-May2014/" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">thejournal.ie</a>. It was also covered by <a data-mce-href="http://www.ilmondo.tv/it/notizie-immigrazione/761-apolidi-in-europa-600mila-fantasmi-legali-senza-cittadinanza-e-diritti.html" href="http://www.ilmondo.tv/it/notizie-immigrazione/761-apolidi-in-europa-600mila-fantasmi-legali-senza-cittadinanza-e-diritti.html" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Il Mondo</a> in Italy. More recently, the <a data-mce-href="http://www.teraz.sk/magazin/fajnorova-cudzinci-slovensko-prava/92769-clanok.html" href="http://www.teraz.sk/magazin/fajnorova-cudzinci-slovensko-prava/92769-clanok.html" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Press Agency of the Slovak Republic</a> picked up on the campaign in an interview with Katarina Fajnorová of the Human Rights League Slovakia. In Poland, the issue has been raised in articles published by both <a data-mce-href="http://www.tvn24.pl/wiadomosci-z-kraju,3/niewidzialni-kim-sa-bezpanstwowcy-i-dlaczego-polska-ich-nie-uznaje,472224.html" href="http://www.tvn24.pl/wiadomosci-z-kraju,3/niewidzialni-kim-sa-bezpanstwowcy-i-dlaczego-polska-ich-nie-uznaje,472224.html" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">tvn24</a> and <a data-mce-href="http://www.rp.pl/artykul/1146384.html" href="http://www.rp.pl/artykul/1146384.html" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">rp.pl</a>. And many more besides.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.0063037872314px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But after taking a brief moment to pat ourselves on the back, now we move on. We must build on this increased awareness, not only in those countries (such as Italy and the Netherlands) where reform is now underway but also in the majority of European states which are yet to make any real movement towards introducing statelessness determination procedures. And despite some positive noises at a recent UNHCR roundtable in Warsaw, Poland (along with Estonia, Cyprus and Malta) is yet to even ratify the 1954 Statelessness Convention despite the EU having pledged in 2012 that all Member States would do so.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">ENS has set up a working group of member organisations to take forward this work over the next two years and in support of our campaign call that all European states introduce a functioning statelessness determination procedure by the end of 2016. In this period we will also fast track a programme of work aimed at ending the arbitrary detention of stateless migrants. And in November we will launch our next campaign seeking to end childhood statelessness in Europe. We hope this will represent a valuable contribution to UNHCR’s ambitious <a data-mce-href="http://www.unhcr.org/pages/53174c306.html" href="http://www.unhcr.org/pages/53174c306.html" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">ten year campaign to eradicate statelessness</a> across the globe. Daunting though that objective is, hopefully the success with the ENS campaign puts a spring in our step as we work towards this.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.0063037872314px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;">Chris Nash, Director, European Network on Statelessness</i></div>
<div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;">[<i>this blog originally appeared on the website of ENS here: </i></span><span style="line-height: 20.0063037872314px;"><i>http://www.statelessness.eu/blog/%E2%80%9C-small-step-perhaps-move-right-direction-help-600000-people-find-somewhere-call-home%E2%80%9D</i>] </span></div>
</div>
Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-54580176557507439672014-10-15T15:29:00.000+02:002014-10-17T15:09:21.600+02:00From Statelessness Programme to Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFcGRB8jHLW2q7erABH3mp52pru-TbC9J7QE3_A4UuTKWmG1aBcOgbEuwqS_Jde_jjpKkSc__ln_4vndb14BhHPya-2yqZ6661RQSQpiqfVMU2wAoy2RHNXQm3IqBiwdOcVvB0OntazOU/s1600/video+overlay+image+-+jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFcGRB8jHLW2q7erABH3mp52pru-TbC9J7QE3_A4UuTKWmG1aBcOgbEuwqS_Jde_jjpKkSc__ln_4vndb14BhHPya-2yqZ6661RQSQpiqfVMU2wAoy2RHNXQm3IqBiwdOcVvB0OntazOU/s1600/video+overlay+image+-+jpg.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-GB">After three rewarding, enjoyable and
successful years building up an international portfolio of research, training
and outreach work on statelessness within the Statelessness Programme at
Tilburg Law School, we are pleased to announce that from the 1st of January
2015, we will continue our work under the flag of the newly established </span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.institutesi.org/"><span lang="EN-GB">Institute on
Statelessness and Inclusion</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB">. The Institute is an </span><span lang="EN-GB">independent non-profit
organisation that aims to lead an integrated, inter-disciplinary response to
the injustice of statelessness and exclusion. Along with the Statelessness
Programme’s Laura van Waas and Zahra Albarazi, the Institute on Statelessness
and Inclusion is also co-founded by Amal de Chickera who has been working on
statelessness for the Equal Rights Trust in London. </span><span lang="EN-GB">The threefold
mission of the Institute is to be:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">An Expert</span></i></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">source of
impartial, trusted and interdisciplinary research, analysis, information and
education on statelessness and disenfranchisement around the world;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">A Partner</span></i></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> who builds connections across disciplines
between people concerned about and/or affected by statelessness and
disenfranchisement; and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">A Catalyst</span></i></b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">for
challenging perceptions on statelessness, strengthening protection and forging inclusion
and participation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB">What will change? <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">The
Statelessness Programme will no longer continue when the Institute on
Statelessness and Inclusion becomes operational on the 1<sup>st</sup> of
January. This means that if you want to continue to follow our work or be
involved in our activities, you will have to visit the Institute’s own website:
</span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.institutesi.org/"><span lang="EN-GB">www.InstituteSI.org</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB">. If you currently receive the
Statelessness Programme newsletter, you will automatically be signed up for the
Institute’s mailing list but the new updates will come with a new look and new
logo. Our new and more ambitious mission, as well as the involvement of
co-founder Amal de Chickera, means that we will strengthen and expand our work
so that we can strive to form an effective bridge between academia and civil
society / UN / policymakers, but also help new actors to get involved in
exploring and finding solutions to statelessness. Our independence will allow
us to be more visible, flexible and able to respond to the needs of those
working to address statelessness around the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB">What will <u>not</u> change?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Our
dedication to the issue of statelessness remains unchanged and this will
continue to be the central focus of our work. We will continue to be affiliated
with Tilburg University and be present on campus: we will still teach the
undergraduate elective ‘Nationality, Statelessness and Human Rights’ and be
available for the supervision of bachelor and masters dissertations, as well as
to offer student internships when we can. We will continue to offer our
statelessness summer and regional courses to professionals and academics
working in this field. We will continue to work within and support the efforts
of the European Network on Statelessness to improve the response to
statelessness within Europe. We will continue to play a role in the
International Campaign to End Gender Discriminatory Nationality Laws. And,
perhaps most importantly, we will continue to be a source of trusted and
impartial research and analysis on statelessness and related issues. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB">What’s next?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB">The
Institute is currently engaged in a process of consultation, strategic planning
and fund-raising, including through a<b> crowd-funding campaign</b>, to cover its
start-up costs. To learn more about the Institute, visit its website:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span lang="NL"><a href="https://email.campus.uvt.nl/owa/Laura.vanWaas@uvt.nl/redir.aspx?C=PNfMR9hVbk61NkhO_PeJd3Y_5adUq9EIk7v_cIjJYmcj1zPC1Q5oc66OdHRWoH-Sv_XlftsVmN8.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.institutesi.org" target="_blank" title="Ctrl+Click to follow link"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #954f72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">www.institutesi.org</span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB">and its campaign page: </span><span lang="NL"><a href="https://email.campus.uvt.nl/owa/Laura.vanWaas@uvt.nl/redir.aspx?C=PNfMR9hVbk61NkhO_PeJd3Y_5adUq9EIk7v_cIjJYmcj1zPC1Q5oc66OdHRWoH-Sv_XlftsVmN8.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fbit.ly%2f1D9j7ey" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; color: #0084b4; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">http://bit.ly/1D9j7ey</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB">. You can support us by spreading the word about the
Institute within your networks and sharing our campaign page through social
media. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
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Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-25480475085319562014-09-24T11:50:00.001+02:002014-09-24T11:50:24.921+02:00300 participants, 70 countries, 1 topic: The First Global Forum on Statelessness<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: inherit;"><b>Reassuring
and invigorating – giving a sense that, together, progress really is achievable
on statelessness<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: inherit;"><b>A
unique opportunity to interact with experts who are normally dispersed all
around the world<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>A chance
to look at old questions in new ways and to pose new questions that have not
been explored before</b></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgECTyJLFiRrHu_PmDIddQk8BB5RZ6maqlAFFWWvZiYGIps7bHMSHqHjQc8QEXzuDB4MY7NnzctaQ4k8a5QwNuh7BzJvv35N5M6AMlI1DjlYQ_9soh90PQsDjrMBN3VtxVu9n-jcYtlm_8/s1600/Group+Photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgECTyJLFiRrHu_PmDIddQk8BB5RZ6maqlAFFWWvZiYGIps7bHMSHqHjQc8QEXzuDB4MY7NnzctaQ4k8a5QwNuh7BzJvv35N5M6AMlI1DjlYQ_9soh90PQsDjrMBN3VtxVu9n-jcYtlm_8/s1600/Group+Photo.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">These are some of the sentiments expressed
by participants of the First Global Forum on Statelessness which was convened
by Tilburg University and UNHCR from 15-17 September 2014. After two years of
plannin</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">g and preparations, 300 participants from 70 different countries came
together at the Peace Palace in the Hague to talk about one topic: how to solve
statelessness. With more than a hundred presentations and many more ideas and
experiences exchanged during the conference sessions as well as the coffee and
lunch breaks, it is impossible to do justice to this event and to everyone who
contributed to it in a single blog. But, it is also impossible to resist the
temptation to share some of my own highlights from the Forum, so here are just
a few of the things that stood out for me…</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Anticipation</span></i></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMNeJw_voNDvTmJ8bw4vblXMwqPL_zH8FzYYGcNsSNf24pIPQhuYSGYsN7HLLw5MgTNt4FSoj9qY921re4KHv70bEqPgP4e1Od6d8fgazNVtcAHdsVFvDAaGR61lVWnKR7gN_dH-0It3I/s1600/preparations.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMNeJw_voNDvTmJ8bw4vblXMwqPL_zH8FzYYGcNsSNf24pIPQhuYSGYsN7HLLw5MgTNt4FSoj9qY921re4KHv70bEqPgP4e1Od6d8fgazNVtcAHdsVFvDAaGR61lVWnKR7gN_dH-0It3I/s1600/preparations.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></i></span></b></div>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Even as we drove a rental van full of
conference paraphernalia through the gates of the Peace Palace the Friday
before the event to set everything up, the ‘First Global Forum on
Statelessness’ still didn’t feel real. What would the venue look like once 300
people arrived? Would they indeed arrive? What would they expect from the
Forum? Would we be able to meet those expectations? With such a diverse
audience, not just in geographical terms, but also in the exciting mix of
academics, NGOs, governments, UN, legal practitioners, stateless and formerly stateless
persons, journalists and others, would the conference actually “work”? Would our
ideas be relevant to one another, would we feel a sense of shared purpose and
would we even find a common language to talk about the issue? These are the
things our team wondered about quietly as we busied ourselves stuffing
conference bags, loading the resource table with books and brochures and
setting up the registration desk. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When the Monday morning of the Forum
arrived, the feeling of anticipation and of nervous excitement only grew as
participants queued (for rather too long, sorry about that!) to pick up their
registration materials. Slowly but surely the foyer became populated with a
mixture of familiar and new faces, the group swelling to an impressive crowd by
the time the opening session began. I had the honour to address the plenary
first and briefly welcome everyone to the event before UNHCR Director of
International Protection, Volker Türk, gave his keynote speech – and I had
given careful thought to what I should say for the occasion. As I climbed the
few steps to the podium and took my place behind the microphone though, the
force of 300 pairs of eyes, all filled with their own look of anticipation and
all fixed on me, made any opening words I had come up with slip my mind
entirely. For a heartbeat I worried that I would find nothing to say at all to
the waiting crowd, but instead I shared the one simple thought that consumed me
in that moment: that it was quite a thing to see so many people gathered to
show their commitment and give their time to trying to address this
long-neglected problem of statelessness (or something less coherent perhaps,
but that was the gist of it). Pausing to take it all in created a picture in my
mind that I will cherish. To me it marked the end of any and all residual feeling
that to work on statelessness is a lonely profession! And, for me at least, that
was when anticipation made way for pure enjoyment of the long-awaited
opportunity to listen, to talk, to question and to debate the many different
challenges and opportunities around statelessness that we face today. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Inspiration<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcSzxPpaIjNkB7fCcxLPul83Me-yzhBf2xI7Vp5WjpDudvV7oIOEYk1sVYSxUXzXUjY37CuCnMmKqLXKlKhYMYpxDn5TPxnBcPRZiZHpbuzlVzw7sxNy25kBJn02vIygFrxtevnvtON0E/s1600/stateless+roundtable.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcSzxPpaIjNkB7fCcxLPul83Me-yzhBf2xI7Vp5WjpDudvV7oIOEYk1sVYSxUXzXUjY37CuCnMmKqLXKlKhYMYpxDn5TPxnBcPRZiZHpbuzlVzw7sxNy25kBJn02vIygFrxtevnvtON0E/s1600/stateless+roundtable.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcSzxPpaIjNkB7fCcxLPul83Me-yzhBf2xI7Vp5WjpDudvV7oIOEYk1sVYSxUXzXUjY37CuCnMmKqLXKlKhYMYpxDn5TPxnBcPRZiZHpbuzlVzw7sxNy25kBJn02vIygFrxtevnvtON0E/s1600/stateless+roundtable.jpg" height="248" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Throughout the three densely packed and
intense days of the Global Forum, there was a palpable “buzz” to the
atmosphere. Whether it was because it was the first such event, or the setting
of the Peace Palace basked in glorious late-summer sunshine, or the backdrop of
the imminent launch of the ambitious UNHCR-led campaign to end statelessness by
2024, or simply the chance to dive straight into real and meaningful
discussions about problems and solutions (without the often necessary precursor
of explaining what statelessness is or exploring basic questions around causes
and impacts), or a combination of these factors… there was a sense of this
being an event packed with not just content, but also meaning. It is without a
doubt that, although the participation of persons directly affected by
statelessness was sadly limited by logistical constraints, the voices of those
stateless and formerly stateless persons who were able to attend and share
their stories contributed greatly to this sense of a very meaningful gathering.
Many people I spoke to about what they would take away with them from the
Global Forum talked of the inspiration they drew for meeting or listening to
the contributions of Railya, Dipu, Lara, Aor, Hasan and Juliana. It reminded us
all that we need to take more time to understand not just the difficulties
faced by stateless persons, but also how they experience those difficulties,
how they perceive their situation and what change they would like to see or
contribute to. While it will remain a challenge to convene people affected by
statelessness because that very status often stands in the way of travel it is
absolutely vital to do more to include them in discussing and working towards
solutions – not just <i>for </i>them, but <i>with </i>them.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlq-ju3vw0XYb-qks0UcAcb9LA0hw5gE92ZMGHzw86p8M2nVMDjZ3SIKcc6Gbd7xzZbMJXnhZIcxuyV_5Ph2FkKCBbb_qv8H3TUJoKi_5Ulzmz-ceBXHQo0Omk_KyMJduIdpwrl9OYeME/s1600/Panel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlq-ju3vw0XYb-qks0UcAcb9LA0hw5gE92ZMGHzw86p8M2nVMDjZ3SIKcc6Gbd7xzZbMJXnhZIcxuyV_5Ph2FkKCBbb_qv8H3TUJoKi_5Ulzmz-ceBXHQo0Omk_KyMJduIdpwrl9OYeME/s1600/Panel.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Innovation<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Global Forum was not just a site for
inspiration, but also for innovation. So many of the presentations made – from
the keynotes to the panels to the poster sessions – explored new dimensions of
the problem of statelessness. So many people have arrived at the issue from
such different directions, from an interest in the regulation of international
surrogacy arrangements, to a concern about the growing use of nationality
policy as a ‘tool’ in the fight against terrorism, to a desire to better
understand how and why irregular or forced migration are prompting
statelessness… Posters looked at country situations we have long known little
to nothing about, like statelessness in Madagascar, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia and
Iran. The occasion of the Forum was also seized upon as an opportunity to
launch or announce new statelessness initiatives. The launch of the new
Cambridge University Press publication <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/nl/academic/subjects/law/public-international-law/nationality-and-statelessness-under-international-law?format=HB">‘Nationality
and Statelessness under International Law’</a> was celebrated – as Professor
Linda Kerber’s generous and beautifully crafted introduction pointed out, exactly
55 years after Paul Weis’ work of a similar name was published just as the UN
was then debating a convention to eliminate statelessness (i.e. what became the
1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness). The re-launch of the <a href="http://www.statelessness.eu/">European Network on Statelessness</a>, a
thriving civil society network of organisations and individual experts
committed to addressing statelessness in Europe, was celebrated as the Network
has just completed the important step of establishing as an independent
Charitable Incorporated Organisation with a revised structure and ambitious
plans for the future. And the establishment of the <a href="http://www.institutesi.org/">Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion</a>
was also announced and celebrated, with the beginning of a consultation process
through a ‘wall of BIG IDEAS’ and collecting feedback on online support for
future networking and information sharing on statelessness that the Institute
hopes to set up. This Institute, by the way, when it starts its work in earnest
on 1 January 2015, will be my exciting new home and will continue and build on
the work of the Tilburg University Statelessness Programme which is being
reinvented, strengthened and expanded through this new, independent initiative
– but more on that on another occasion.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Motivation<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPJJeFPpAm6h-nNvldH1mu949k_t5jNQZbxr5_ylXOVxYNtENESiLvnRm8F9Oso1KYUPIcAQJzNmYemR9Q2EDUCyii6eUXwKTi1l0e2FeY1v-O_tfVeTdI7rOLEVcb5Vq5Hh61zshXbpQ/s1600/Award.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPJJeFPpAm6h-nNvldH1mu949k_t5jNQZbxr5_ylXOVxYNtENESiLvnRm8F9Oso1KYUPIcAQJzNmYemR9Q2EDUCyii6eUXwKTi1l0e2FeY1v-O_tfVeTdI7rOLEVcb5Vq5Hh61zshXbpQ/s1600/Award.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPJJeFPpAm6h-nNvldH1mu949k_t5jNQZbxr5_ylXOVxYNtENESiLvnRm8F9Oso1KYUPIcAQJzNmYemR9Q2EDUCyii6eUXwKTi1l0e2FeY1v-O_tfVeTdI7rOLEVcb5Vq5Hh61zshXbpQ/s1600/Award.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Participating in the Global Forum was, in
itself, a motivating experience, but for some there was an added incentive – or
perhaps, better said, reward – for the work they have put into this issue. The
2014 UNHCR Awards for Statelessness Research were presented during the closing
plenary, honouring the best student research on statelessness at undergraduate,
graduate and doctoral levels completed in 2013-2014. Last year, when these
awards were inaugurated, the ceremony was a virtual one as the recipients were
spread out in different locations around the world. This time, however, the
Forum had brought so many people working on statelessness together in a single
place that as luck would have it, all of the award recipients could be addressed
in person. Professor René de Groot did a masterful job of presenting the Jury
Report and delivering the award certificates on behalf of the team of
international academic experts who assessed the nominated work. Two students
from Tilburg University were among the winners, including one of the Global
Forum’s conference hosts in fact – Maria Jose Recalde Vela – whose
undergraduate thesis explored the relationship between identity and
nationality, from a legal and socio-psychological perspective. But it was
particularly special to see the prize for best doctoral research on
statelessness presented for the first time, awarded to Dr Jason Tucker for his
PhD thesis completed at the Department of Social and Political Sciences of the
University of Bath, entitled <i>Challenging
the tyranny of citizenship: Statelessness in Lebanon. </i>Next month, a series
of special blog posts will be dedicated to the winners of the 2014 UNHCR Awards
for Statelessness Research and we also intend to post a video of the award
ceremony when this is ready. Meanwhile, I hope that even if there may not be a
similar occasion at which to present the certificates in the years to come, the
awards will continue to motivate students to contribute to identifying and
investigating critical questions in the field of statelessness. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dissemination<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpMOLDRj7Zh4sIhpJOpcrAmAvWou-TvmAtIvRbpkaonPZWknbS_VMLQJwCi6445yzyidCGpuxIxVthxCIWsQKJ1JUcTL9CDslcaC-FHhEYcwWXKLU1T4kJzi7K38Nn960QA5XZNXbJbN0/s1600/Barbara+twitter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpMOLDRj7Zh4sIhpJOpcrAmAvWou-TvmAtIvRbpkaonPZWknbS_VMLQJwCi6445yzyidCGpuxIxVthxCIWsQKJ1JUcTL9CDslcaC-FHhEYcwWXKLU1T4kJzi7K38Nn960QA5XZNXbJbN0/s1600/Barbara+twitter.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">While 300 people gathered in the grounds of
the Peace Palace for the Global Forum, many more followed the event in some way
from a distance. Participants at the Forum shared some of their experiences and
lots of snapshots from the event through twitter and facebook, using the
hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23statelessness2014&src=typd">#statelessness2014</a>
(more than 500 tweets went out with this hashtag over the 3 days of the
conference). Emma Batha, journalist with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, not
only participated in the media panel at the Forum but also filed <a href="http://www.trust.org/spotlight/stateless-the-worlds-most-invisible-people/?source=dpagerelspot">a
series of stories</a> before and during the event, helping to highlight some of
the current challenges as well as to draw attention back to the human impact of
statelessness. Several Dutch newspapers, including Trouw and NRC Next were
prompted by the Global Forum to run their own stories about statelessness and
there was some national radio coverage. The Guardian, Newsweek, Channel News
Asia and Al Jazeera’s <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2014/09/eradicating-statelessness-2014916152457264383.html">Inside
Story</a> also all reported on the issue and the Forum. This dissemination of
information through the media and the enthusiastic sharing of photos and
experiences by participants of the Forum within their own personal and
professional networks creates an important ripple-effect, generating a better
understanding of the phenomenon of statelessness within a much wider circle of
people. Already we have had lots of additional sign-ups to the post-conference
mailing list and we will now take up the task of developing the space and the
tools for a continued conversation on the issue. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That leaves me to end this blog by saying a
massive thank you to everyone who contributed to make the First Global Forum on
Statelessness a success, whether it was by sharing your expertise, posing a
question, spreading the word or in another way. And most importantly, let’s
stay in touch! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr
Laura van Waas, Senior Researcher and Manager of the Statelessness Programme; Co-founder
of the new <a href="http://www.institutesi.org/">Institute on Statelessness and
Inclusion</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-TrfAMTHSu7c%2FVCKSmd8QPKI%2FAAAAAAAAAR0%2FM7LauVKQt4o%2Fs1600%2Fstateless%252Broundtable.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcSzxPpaIjNkB7fCcxLPul83Me-yzhBf2xI7Vp5WjpDudvV7oIOEYk1sVYSxUXzXUjY37CuCnMmKqLXKlKhYMYpxDn5TPxnBcPRZiZHpbuzlVzw7sxNy25kBJn02vIygFrxtevnvtON0E/s1600/stateless+roundtable.jpg" --><!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F-G_GLR0s2e30%2FVCKSTrB0FcI%2FAAAAAAAAARI%2FxmTUevlctcE%2Fs1600%2FAward.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPJJeFPpAm6h-nNvldH1mu949k_t5jNQZbxr5_ylXOVxYNtENESiLvnRm8F9Oso1KYUPIcAQJzNmYemR9Q2EDUCyii6eUXwKTi1l0e2FeY1v-O_tfVeTdI7rOLEVcb5Vq5Hh61zshXbpQ/s1600/Award.jpg" -->Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-69749507653811497282014-09-11T22:21:00.001+02:002014-09-11T22:21:11.960+02:00GUEST POST: Community Paralegals and the Legal Empowerment Approach to Statelessness<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mohammad Javed is an Urdu-speaking entrepreneur living in
the middle of Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. Looking to grow his
business, Mohammad decided to travel to India to start importing spare
auto-rickshaw parts for his own repairs and to sell to others. Yet Mohammad was
unsure of the process through which he could obtain a passport. He was also
intimidated to approach the passport authority office. While a landmark 2008
High Court judgment confirmed Urdu-speakers’ Bangladeshi citizenship and ended
their 40 year struggle with statelessness, Mohammad had heard stories of fellow
Urdu-speakers being denied passports due to their identity and residence in
urban “camps” established by the ICRC after Bangladesh became independent in
1971. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A continent away, Yusuf is a 19-year-old of Nubian ethnicity
living in the Kibera slum outside Nairobi, Kenya. Yusuf wanted a birth
certificate to access basic services and to reinforce his identity as a Kenyan
citizen. For three months, he tried to apply for a birth certificate on his
own. He repeatedly went to the relevant government office, which required a
trip into town, but each attempt to apply was met with harsh treatment and
requests for additional supporting documents beyond those required of most
Kenyans. After many failed attempts, Yusuf gave up on getting a birth
certificate. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Both Mohammad and Yusuf belong to minority groups that are
either emerging from a protracted situation of statelessness or are at risk of
statelessness due to difficulties in acquiring legal identity documents like ID
cards and passports. Despite laws and
court decisions that establish their citizenship rights, lack of legal
knowledge, complex application procedures, and a lack of proper implementation
of the law – sometimes outright discrimination – all stand in the way. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How, then, can Mohammad, Yusuf, and the millions of others
like them around the world protect their rights as citizens – obtaining legal
identity documents that allow them to prove their nationality, obtain
employment, travel abroad, open a bank account, or enroll in school? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Community-based paralegals, also known as grassroots legal
advocates, can bridge the gap between law and real life. They use knowledge of
law and government, and skills like mediation, education, organizing, and
advocacy to seek concrete solutions to instances of injustice. Paralegals not
only work alongside clients to resolve a legal issue, but also focus on
empowerment - leaving each client in a
stronger position to deal with similar problems in the future. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOLgvxAEWVolDzWbCIOfBf7piXRVZ8xvC3scfOE9DFTHmyFMF5NQ7mVzLW6r_2CickzXdcr-ecPR1Zxq2WwAIOEx-PSUX-vRz3dGGPy54W5ccj8pMvIfM6VLUV29Dl926uOzWWzZQ9e1I/s1600/Namati.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOLgvxAEWVolDzWbCIOfBf7piXRVZ8xvC3scfOE9DFTHmyFMF5NQ7mVzLW6r_2CickzXdcr-ecPR1Zxq2WwAIOEx-PSUX-vRz3dGGPy54W5ccj8pMvIfM6VLUV29Dl926uOzWWzZQ9e1I/s1600/Namati.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">In Bangladesh, paralegal Nahid Parvin from the Urdu-speaking community <br />accompanies a client to a Government registration office</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Namati, an international legal empowerment organization, is
dedicated to the paralegal approach. Since 2013, Namati has been working with
Nubian Rights Forum and the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) in Kenya and
with the Council of Minorities in Bangladesh to train and support paralegals in
communities emerging from or at risk of statelessness. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Nubian paralegals in Kenya and the Urdu-speaking
paralegals in Bangladesh start by educating their communities about the
importance of legal identity documents, the eligibility requirements and
application processes. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some people use that information to apply on their own.
Others require additional assistance – help with forms, or a paralegal to
accompany them to the registration office.
Sometimes the paralegal’s presence alone will make an official think
twice before making extra-legal requests. And when an official delays or denies
a client’s application for an identity document, the paralegal is there to use
the law in negotiations and follow the case through to a resolution. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the past 18 months, Nubian Rights Forum paralegals have
opened over 1,200 cases and several hundred clients have already received their
identity documents. In Bangladesh, more than 1,400 Urdu-speaking clients have
received identity documents in just one year. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet the paralegals supported by Namati and its partners are
not only concerned with assisting individual clients. The paralegals are
tracking every case to establish an evidence base on how laws are implemented.
By analyzing hundreds of cases, the data can be used for high-level
advocacy. Improvements to the law and
practice can create change not only for Kenyan Nubians or Urdu-speaking
Bangladeshis, but potentially ease access to legal identity documents to all
citizens in these two countries. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And as this model of citizenship-focused paralegal services
develops, practical resources and lessons will be shared with like-minded
organizations, illustrating how community-based justice services can respond to
or prevent statelessness around the globe. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">This Guest Post was written by Laura
Goodwin, Program Director at Namati (</span></i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://www.namati.org/"><i>www.namati.org</i></a><i>). She manages Namati’s Burma Program and Citizenship Program, which is
active in Bangladesh and Kenya. She is speaking at the Global Forum on
Statelessness on Monday 15 September.</i></span></div>
Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-44873257238737385702014-08-21T13:49:00.002+02:002014-08-21T13:50:52.961+02:00A website for statelessness: www.whatisstatelessness.org<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 35.4pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When the
Statelessness Programme in Tilburg University was created by Mrs. Van Waas, I
was a teenager dreaming of working in a university and becoming like Mrs. Van
Waas - make a change and help other people. I knew those were my dreams, but I
did not have any idea about how to make them a reality. In 2012, I took the
chance to study in Tilburg University, moved to the Netherlands and stared a
life changing journey. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Enrolled
in the Liberal Arts and Sciences Bachelor, I truly enjoyed my studies. Nevertheless,
I had great difficulties adapting in the new environment and learning to live
alone. I started searching for more opportunities than just attending lectures
and studying. I dreamed of a challenge and a real experience from the academic
area. Applying for an internship in the Statelessness Programme was just a
dream that seemed quite impossible before I realized that I was actually given
the opportunity for 6 months to work for the world’s most innovative and hardworking
programme about Statelessness. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
joined the Statelessness team as an intern to help with awareness raising on
statelessness, by creating a web-site about Statelessness and Nationality. While still a student in high school I
was highly influenced by my brother, a computer engineer, and my mother, a
physics teacher; they made me passionate about studying and creating web-sites.
When applying for the Statelessness Programme I had basic knowledge on how to
manipulate ready web-site templates and adjust them to the content desired.
Nevertheless, I was lacking the essential knowledge of building my own web-site
from a scratch. Realizing how important the Statelessness programme is, I
decided that it would be highly inappropriate to use free online template and
therefore, I started taking online courses for programming. My internship was 6
months, 3 months of which I spent studying how to create the perfect web-site
for the needs of the Programme. In that sense, I am extremely grateful at Laura
van Waas and everyone in the team for giving complete freedom to decide on my
own and to create the web-site gradually. Working on Microsoft Web Expression
4, the web-site has a ‘bone’ structure of HTML, with some HTML5 elements, and a
‘skin’ structure of CSS and j-Query. I really wanted to create a PHP form for
comments, but for now my knowledge of PHP is insufficient to do that, although
I tried. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_8YioQHWdOuQdxYjWUSY6CcCocr6cxtAZgYbLPBm8_fW2ggk_qw7yY-UWkAk5FLItLpy61AkbOleOA3lwRwt-wfjZag0sIDnXDvfUs3NOQXAwEJZ-b0OIktprRtjF2bncYoBlnZJ7y-A/s1600/website+screenshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_8YioQHWdOuQdxYjWUSY6CcCocr6cxtAZgYbLPBm8_fW2ggk_qw7yY-UWkAk5FLItLpy61AkbOleOA3lwRwt-wfjZag0sIDnXDvfUs3NOQXAwEJZ-b0OIktprRtjF2bncYoBlnZJ7y-A/s1600/website+screenshot.jpg" height="247" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
web-site presents two sides of the Statelessness problem – Statelessness and Nationality.
Before, my mind could not understand how it is possible one legal term to
envelop to such a degree a human creature and condemn it to belong nowhere. The
right side of the web-site is about Nationality and the left is about
Statelessness, and each of the two parts have their own drop-down menus. The
main purpose of this separation of those two terms is the clear distinction
between the legal terms and the social consequences of those terms. The web
site dedicates parts to all aspects of both Statelessness and Nationality that
affect all people in the world – those with and those without citizenship. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
Statelessness section gives more information about what statelessness itself
is, how it occurs and why, as well as what can be done about statelessness and
what is done today by whom. In order for the Statelessness part to be fully
understood, the essence of Nationality has to be explained as well. Hence the
web-site is separated in two mutually complementing parts. In the Nationality part, you can find why we
have citizenship of different countries and how this affects our lives. People
can learn how due to the concept of Nationality and the legal gaps connected
with it, another legal term developed – Statelessness. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Creating
a duo-website about both Statelessness and Nationality was extremely helpful for
me as well. Working in such a great professional environment I started feeling at
home, surrounded by friends. The Statelessness Programme and everyone working
in it helped me grow as a person and to create something meaningful. I received
great help from Mrs. Van Waas and Miss Albarazi for the content of the
web-site. Back then, being a first year student, I realize now that I was not
able to explain the essence of the Statelessness issue without the great
guidance of the before mentioned people. Most of all, I am endlessly grateful
for being found, when I was lost. That is what the Statelessness Programme in
Tilburg University is doing – it is helping people all over the world to find
their place, where they belong. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Zhasmina
Kostadinova, former intern with the Statelessness Programme and designer of the
website <a href="http://www.whatisstatelessness.org/">www.whatisstatelessness.org</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
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</div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-50216839936190129052014-06-24T13:15:00.000+02:002014-06-24T13:16:27.158+02:00GUEST POST: The dream of a common identity - Statelessness and Nationality in Africa<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Tshepiso* is the
mother of a boy named Lefa*, a beautiful two year old child born in South
Africa. Lefa would have been no less special had he belonged to any other
nation in the world. Unfortunately, in the entire world, there is no nation who
will acknowledge his existence and offer him access to citizenship under its
legislation.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Lefa is the
second generation in his family to be affected by long term rejection of birth
registration applications due to an inability to meet the requirements of an
overly strict birth registration act. Although Tshepiso and Lefa have a claim
to South African citizenship by law, strict birth registration laws and the
implementation of those laws have rendered them stateless. Tshepiso has been
attempting to access her nationality in South Africa for ten years without
success. Both Tshepiso’s and Lefa’s applications for acknowledgement of
citizenship have been formally rejected on numerous occasions over a prolonged
period indicating that the state does not recognise them as citizens under the
operation of its laws. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Tshepiso is a
South African through descent in terms of the South African Citizenship Act. She
was born in neighbouring country, Lesotho. In order to be formally recognised
as a South African, she is required to provide the authorities with a foreign
birth certificate from her country of birth. This country is Lesotho, a country
with a birth registration rate of less than 25%. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Like many other
Lesotho born children, Tshepiso’s birth was never registered in Lesotho. She
was sent to live with her grandparents in South Africa by the age of three without
any proof of origin. In the last ten years, Tshepiso has tried everything to
meet the requirements of the Births and Deaths Registrations Act, but is barred
by the absolute requirement of a foreign birth certificate which she has tried,
but failed to obtain. She has been undocumented for the past 30 years, despite various
attempts at proving her nationality claim.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Lefa’s father is
a documented South African citizen. He wants to acknowledge paternity and pass
nationality to his son. The South African authorities have repeatedly refused
to register Lefa’s birth, because his mother is undocumented. This is blatant discrimination
against children born to undocumented parents and against unmarried fathers who
cannot acknowledge paternity of a child born out of wedlock where the mother is
undocumented. Tshepiso could never legally marry Lefa’s father without a
document and Lefa certainly has no control over the lack of documentation of
his parents. Nevertheless, Lefa is being punished for his parents’ marital status
and lack of documentation through the refusal to register his birth.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-ZA">It seems
contradictory that upon the 20 year anniversary of South Africa’s democracy,
there are still people who cannot access the right to equal citizenship. This
means that these people are excluded from political participation, affecting
the principle of universal adult suffrage which is a founding value of
democracy. In South Africa, being documented is compulsory. The new immigration
rules are very clear on this point.
However, pre-democracy, not all black people in South Africa were able
to register their births nor was there any expectation for them to do so. This
apartheid legacy continues for those persons for whom there were no state
interventions to assist them with birth registration. There is little
understanding or sympathy for persons in this situation.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-ZA">This makes it almost
impossible for children whose parents’ births are unregistered to prove their
South African descent. There is a common misconception, amongst state officials
and the public, that a person only becomes a citizen once the state has issued
the person with an identity document. This often results in the arrest and
immigration detention of undocumented citizens. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Labour migration
in Southern Africa has been taking place for hundreds of years. There is a
mixed-nationality heritage in border communities and often, people are not even
conscious of their own nationality status or that of their ancestors. Still,
Lesotho, for instance, does not allow dual nationality and South Africa is
suspicious of residents who were born or sojourned in a foreign country. The consequence
is that whole communities are exposed to the risk of statelessness.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Characteristics
of the Apartheid-era in South Africa created a very particular breeding ground
for statelessness, including the irregular and incomplete registration of blacks,
forced renunciation of nationality claims, the refusal to issue official
documents to blacks acknowledging their nationality (passbooks for blacks referred
to a person’s tribe rather than citizenship), forced migration due to political
persecution and lack of employment opportunities for blacks. Before democracy
black people were often forced to renounce a claim to South African nationality
if they needed to travel across borders to neighbouring countries. One person told LHR that he was issued with a
Stateless passport in order to travel internationally. The nationality status
of blacks who resided in South Africa before democracy is shrouded in the uncertainty
caused by race discrimination and neglect.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-ZA">These prevalent
practices during Apartheid all have one thing in common, they affected black
people. More critically affected were those living in rural areas where the
registration rate was and continues to be extremely low. Other ingrained
inequalities of that generation, like gender based discrimination, the
invisibility of people with disabilities and poverty increased the
vulnerability of this group. It is significantly more difficult for people
within this group to prove their identity, than those who were not affected
historically. Without proof of one’s parents’ citizenship status it is
impossible to access nationality in South Africa. The legacy South Africa has inherited
is a continuing inequality in access to equal (or any) citizenship. Apartheid,
it seems, lives on.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-ZA">The African
Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) has recently adopted a resolution
regarding the protection and promotion of the right to nationality. A study
into the level of access to nationality in Africa has been launched and all
member states are asked to participate. The information gathered from across
Africa will support the drafting of a </span><span lang="EN-GB">protocol on the right to a nationality in Africa to the African Charter
on Human and Peoples’ Rights</span><span lang="EN-ZA">.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-ZA">This is very
promising news, especially on a continent where tribes and families have been divided
along arbitrary colonial borders and separated through imposed foreign
citizenship under colonial rule. These divisions have sparked many conflicts
and caused a myriad of violations to nationality rights since independence.
Africa is finally taking back its inheritance by pursuing the inclusion of all
Africans in its history and its future.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-ZA">South Africa
should sit up and take notice of these international advances in a very
important, but severely neglected, field. It is only fitting that a country which
has pioneered the achievement of human rights on the continent in the past 20 years
should be on the foreground of the achievement of equal nationality rights. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-ZA">In the meantime Lefa
will be going to school soon, but not without a birth certificate. Tshepiso is
determined to get her son registered no matter what the cost. Tshepiso’s
relentless pursuit of her right to citizenship is truly commendable. I often
get a glimpse of the strength of the human spirit through my clients’ lives. I
respect them for their perseverance. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-ZA">In the fight
against statelessness, I hope we are fortunate enough to restore more than
nationality to our clients. I hope that
we can restore legitimacy by giving them a voice. I hope we can instil in the
world a dream of a common identity. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-ZA"> *Not their real names<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><i>Liesl Muller is an Attorney in the Statelessness
Project within the Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme at Lawyers for Human
Rights in South Africa. Access LHR’s publication on statelessness and
nationality here: </i></span><span lang="EN-ZA"><a href="http://www.lhr.org.za/publications/statelessness-and-nationality-south-africa"><i>http://www.lhr.org.za/publications/statelessness-and-nationality-south-africa</i></a><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
</div>
Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-72885967560843488592014-06-12T09:50:00.002+02:002014-06-12T09:51:07.941+02:00The story behind finding some of Europe’s invisible people <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Although hundreds of thousands of stateless people live in Europe, finding them can be a challenge at times. An important part of the <a data-mce-href="http://www.statelessness.eu/blog/act-now-and-help-protect-stateless-people-across-europe" href="http://www.statelessness.eu/blog/act-now-and-help-protect-stateless-people-across-europe" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">ENS campaign</a> to improve protection of stateless persons in Europe is helping to take away the invisibility of the issue of statelessness in Europe. As part of this campaign, <a data-mce-href="http://www.statelessness.eu/faces-of-statelessness" href="http://www.statelessness.eu/faces-of-statelessness" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">testimonies</a> of stateless individuals in Europe have been collected in an effort to give statelessness a ‘human face’.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Contributing to this campaign, the <a data-mce-href="https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/research/institutes-and-research-groups/statelessness/" href="https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/research/institutes-and-research-groups/statelessness/" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Statelessness Programme</a> at Tilburg University has been gathering stories of stateless persons in the Netherlands since September 2013. The Netherlands has not established a statelessness determination procedure, which means that it is unclear how many stateless persons there are in the country. In 2010, over 85,000 people were registered with Dutch municipalities as stateless or “nationality unknown” – many of the latter may also be in fact stateless. In this blog post I would like to take you through the journey, the challenges and surprises, of giving a ‘human face’ to statelessness.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Identifying stateless persons</span></strong></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Many individuals, non-profit organizations and NGO’s find the phenomenon of statelessness very confusing or do not have a full understanding of what it means. So where does one begin in first locating and then trying to identify an individual as stateless? At first, it seems like looking for a needle in a haystack, but after seven months of work I was able to meet 15 stateless persons and families, all with different backgrounds, which helped painting a clearer picture of the countless situations which exist for a person to be or end up stateless in the Netherlands.<strike style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strike></span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the first two months I had contacted 200+ organizations across the country that in some way deal with (irregular) migrants, and many of them had questions about how to identify stateless people. They felt unable to distinguish stateless people from other non-nationals: in their eyes, many of the irregular migrants they assist face the same issues, including being unable to return to their country of origin and the inability to prove their nationality or to acquire identity documents. Nonetheless, with help from students at Tilburg University, fellow colleagues and interns at the Statelessness Programme but also lawyers, volunteers at non-profit organizations and religious institutions I was able to get in touch with stateless people who would be willing to share their story.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have met stateless persons from as young as 3 months right up to 80 years of age from different countries including Myanmar, China, Congo, Ukraine, Viet Nam, Macedonia, Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Palestine but also children born stateless in the Netherlands. Some have never been recognized as a national of any state while others had their nationality withdrawn for a variety of reasons and are unable to reacquire their nationality.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Challenges faced by stateless people in the Netherlands</span></strong></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Some of the stateless persons I met possess a residence permit, often based on an immigration amnesty law which was adopted in 2007. They face the problem that they are now unable to naturalize because of their inability to prove their statelessness. I also met stateless people who are staying irregularly in the Netherlands. The lack of a statelessness determination procedure is causing inadequate protection for these people. As a matter of fact, more than half of all persons I met have never even acquired a residence permit, even those that have been living here in the Netherlands for over 15 years. As a result, they have been completely dependent on interim-aid from, for instance, shelters and churches. I noticed a common wish shared amongst them – to return to their homeland and if that is not possible to be somewhere in the world where their statelessness is acknowledged. For many of them, what seems like such a simple wish is accompanied by countless procedures, a web of requirements they are unable to meet, and the lack of proper documentation.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Many people live in fear of being detained because of their residence status and, therefore, live in loneliness and some have not left the city or village in which they have lived for years. Others have been traumatized from being detained multiple times for not possessing identity documents, not only in the Netherlands but also abroad, and struggle with psychological and physical health issues due to stress, about the constant worry about their legal procedures and their desperate hope to acquire a regularized stay and feel human again. This was prevalent, especially amongst the young adults, many of whom mentioned that they do not have any prospects for realizing their future plans such as studying, working, having a family or being able to travel. Hopes and ambitions shared amongst many of their peers. They say not to have any form of control over their own lives because all they can do is wait, wait for a residence permit which enables them to have a normal life.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It has really been an eye-opening experience for me to see the poor conditions that some of these stateless persons are forced to live in here in the Netherlands. Some of them are living in real poverty, moving between makeshift shelters such as the ones which have been constricted in a parking garage with little access to running water and electricity, or inside a former prison, knowing that in three months it will be time to pack up again and look for a new ‘home’. My first reaction to this was: how is it possible that people have to live in such circumstances in what is a so-called ‘first-world country’?</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As mentioned, I also met stateless people who possess a residence permit and their human rights are, contrary to those who are irregularly in the Netherlands, much better protected. It has been very interesting to see their perspective on the phenomenon of statelessness, especially after meeting the stateless persons who do not have a legalized stay in the Netherlands. According to them, not having a nationality disadvantages them in some ways, such as not being able to vote or to travel to some countries but most of them are studying at a university and they are all determined to make a good living. They refuse to let the fact that they do not have a nationality keep them from their ambitions and dreams to better themselves - instead it is just a personal circumstance that requires more administrative work for them and more bureaucracy.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some reflections</span></strong></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the past eight months I have been able to get to know only 15 of the 600,000 stateless persons in Europe a little better. One of the challenges with this storytelling project was, at first, building trust with some of the stateless persons and letting them know that they will not get in trouble for sharing their story and giving insights of what it is like to being stateless and living in a European country. After spending some time with the stateless persons, they actually truly appreciated that someone is taking the time to talk with them and listen to their story.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">What upsets me the most is to know that these persons, who are just a few faces in the crowd of thousands of stateless persons in Europe, do not receive adequate protection from the country in which they currently live. When they explain to me how statelessness affects their daily lives, I can see sorrow and confusion reflected in their eyes, along with a faint spark of hope when they express their wishes for the future. I can feel that they are tired and frustrated of being stuck in legal limbo. Yet they acknowledge that it is important to share their story in order to raise awareness for the issue of statelessness, knowing it will not help their individual case at this point.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5H95RuWkedsS3cngXJU-m8JN037J6Ozh09EvJLevjZ3dEXy74n0RkbKLScUSq5xJosTA0e9VOAyfcKt6i51G0GBMn21CBElLnxd-evPs-H61LwUWrgLsAKmlwx-HF19RPCMwR0qUAft8/s1600/statelessness+in+the+Netherlands+blog+ENS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5H95RuWkedsS3cngXJU-m8JN037J6Ozh09EvJLevjZ3dEXy74n0RkbKLScUSq5xJosTA0e9VOAyfcKt6i51G0GBMn21CBElLnxd-evPs-H61LwUWrgLsAKmlwx-HF19RPCMwR0qUAft8/s1600/statelessness+in+the+Netherlands+blog+ENS.jpg" height="400" width="225" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">More attention is now being paid to statelessness in Europe, including thanks to this ENS campaign. Last month, <a data-mce-href="http://www.nowherepeople.org/index.php#mi=1&pt=0&pi=6&s=0&p=0&a=0&at=0" href="http://www.nowherepeople.org/index.php#mi=1&pt=0&pi=6&s=0&p=0&a=0&at=0" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Greg Constantine</a> visited the Netherlands on the invitation of ENS and the Statelessness Programme. Working with Greg and seeing his dedication as a human rights photographer to make the issue of statelessness visible is admirable. For the past eight years, Greg has devoted his career to meeting stateless people worldwide but had yet to meet stateless people in a Western European country. During his visit here, he took his time really getting to know the stateless persons I had been speaking to and was able to capture the stories of these unique individuals through photographs. Afterwards, everyone was genuinely happy to have met Greg and found it an opportunity they would not want to miss. Besides telling their own stories, they were curious to hear more about Greg’s work. For instance, a stateless Rohingya from Myanmar said: ‘I am so happy to have met Greg. He has been to Myamar and Bangladesh several times and it feels good to talk about my situation with someone who understands and knows from experience what it is like there’. A photo essay with these stories will be ready by September, in time to be exhibited at the First Global Forum on Statelessness in The Hague and to be used as part of the ENS campaign.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It is also fantastic news that more than 3500 people have already showed concern and signed the <a data-mce-href="http://www.statelessness.eu/act-now-on-statelessness" href="http://www.statelessness.eu/act-now-on-statelessness" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">ENS petition to protect statelessness in Europe</a> since it was launched three weeks ago. However, more signatures are needed to show leaders of Europe that the issue of statelessness cannot be ignored.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Sangita Jaghai, Intern at the Statelessness Programme</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.006303787231445px;"><i>Note that this blog post first appeared on the website of the European Network on Statelessness, here: </i></span><span style="line-height: 20.006303787231445px;"><i>http://www.statelessness.eu/blog/story-behind-finding-some-europe%E2%80%99s-invisible-people. </i></span><i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.006303787231445px;"> </i></div>
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Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-60183357650146774312014-05-31T18:34:00.000+02:002014-06-02T10:32:38.971+02:00Act now and help protect stateless people across Europe <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/o1qGwoN61mw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When meeting a stateless person what is
often so very striking is their understandable bewilderment about the situation
they have been unlucky enough to find themselves in, and a corresponding
desperate desire on their part to establish an identity and to enjoy the sort
of normal daily life that most of us take for granted.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This same sense of frustration and
longing jumps out from testimonies gathered by the European Network on
Statelessness as part of its </span></span><a href="http://www.statelessness.eu/act-now-on-statelessness"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">campaign to protect stateless persons in Europe</span></span></a><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">. Launched last October, this will culminate with a
coordinated day of action on 14 October, and several ENS members are already
planning actions or events in support of the campaign. The </span></span><a href="http://www.statelessness.eu/faces-of-statelessness"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">stories</span></span></a><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> launched
today, along with an </span></span><a href="http://www.statelessness.eu/act-now-on-statelessness"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">online petition</span></span></a><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (available
in 9 languages) calling on Europe’s leaders to take action, are intended to
give stateless persons a voice and to try to help uncover at least a little of their
invisibility. The </span></span><a href="http://www.statelessness.eu/faces-of-statelessness"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">six stories</span></span></a><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> offer only
a snapshot of the typical problems faced by stateless people across Europe
today but hopefully will help serve as a wake-up call for governments to put in
place the relatively simple reforms that would provide a much-needed solution.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Take </span></span><a href="http://www.statelessness.eu/faces-of-statelessness/isa"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">Isa</span></span></a><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">, stateless in Serbia, and who feels
different a “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">million times</i>” because
of his lack of citizenship or any identity documents. Or </span></span><a href="http://www.statelessness.eu/faces-of-statelessness/sarah"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">Sarah</span></span></a><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">, stuck in limbo in the Netherlands, who
explains “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I live day by day, not knowing
what the future will bring</i>”. Or </span></span><a href="http://www.statelessness.eu/faces-of-statelessness/luka"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">Luka</span></span></a><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">, who despite having lived in Slovakia
for over 20 years, is unable to work or even officially to be recognized as the
father of the child he has with his partner, a Slovak national. In many
respects even more alarming is the fact that both Luka and </span></span><a href="http://www.statelessness.eu/faces-of-statelessness/roman"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">Roman</span></span></a><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">, another stateless person stuck in limbo
in Slovakia, have lost their personal liberty for no other reason than that
they are unlucky enough to be stateless. Roman describes having been detained
on 6 to 7 occasions while Luka once spent 14 months in an immigration detention
centre.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
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<span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But as I learnt when invited to speak at
a statelessness roundtable organised by UNHCR in Bratislava last week, Slovakian
legislation actually already provides a discretionary power to regularise
stateless persons but unfortunately lacks any form of dedicated determination
procedure to enable officials to reliably identify stateless persons on its
territory. But it would be unfair to single out Slovakia in this regard as the
regrettable fact is that most European states still lack such basic procedures
which are urgently necessary if these countries are to honour the obligations
they signed up to when ratifying the </span></span><a href="http://www.unhcr.org/3bbb25729.html"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">1954
Statelessness Convention</span></span></a><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">. So except
for a few states that have yet even to take the first step of acceding to the
Convention (including Cyprus, Estonia, Malta and Poland) the problem really is
one of implementation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this regard,
last December ENS published its </span></span><a href="http://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/attachments/resources/Statelessness%20determination%20and%20the%20protection%20status%20of%20stateless%20persons%20ENG.pdf"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">good practice guide on statelessness determination</span></span></a><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">, intended as a tool for states considering introducing these
essential dedicated procedures.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
<div class="Normal1" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Obviously the stories described above are
just a glimpse of the human impact of statelessness but they echo recent more
detailed research undertaken, including through UNHCR mapping studies in </span></span><a href="http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/5100f4b22.pdf"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">Belgium</span></span></a><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> and </span></span><a href="http://www.refworld.org/docid/4eef65da2.html"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">the
Netherlands</span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;">. This research confirms that the absence
of a route by which stateless persons can regularise their status leaves these
individuals at risk of a range of human rights abuses. Many stateless persons
find themselves destitute or forced to sleep rough on the streets. Others are
subjected to long term immigration detention despite there being no prospect of
return. Few are in a position to break this cycle, and as a consequence are
left in legal limbo for years.</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We
are asking you and others concerned about statelessness in Europe to sign the
following </span></span><a href="http://www.statelessness.eu/act-now-on-statelessness"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">online petition</span></span></a><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;">To European leaders,</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;">Around 600,000 stateless persons live in Europe today, including many
migrants stuck in perpetual limbo. They urgently require our protection. We ask
that:</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;">1) All European states accede to the 1954 Statelessness Convention by
the end 2014.</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">2) All European states without a functioning statelessness determination
procedure make a clear commitment during 2014 to take necessary steps to
introduce one by the end 2016. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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</span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Act now by signing and sharing this </span></span></b><a href="http://www.statelessness.eu/act-now-on-statelessness"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">petition</span></span></b></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> with your
contacts!<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;">With your support we can bring Europe’s
legal ghosts out of the shadows and ensure that stateless persons are treated
with the respect and dignity which has been lacking.</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thank
you!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">By Chris Nash, Coordinator of the European Network on Statelessness<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This blog first appeared on the European Network on
Statelessness website at http://www.statelessness.eu/blog/act-now-and-help-protect-stateless-people-across-europe<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-58607338975937288092014-05-22T16:19:00.002+02:002014-05-22T16:20:12.651+02:00Guest Post: A question of ‘if’ and ‘when’<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Farid is in UK immigration detention pending deportation. He has an Iranian passport that has expired. One month into his detention, he attempts to contact his country’s consular authorities to facilitate his removal, they do not respond. Two months in, he tries again. They fail to respond again. Meanwhile, the UK Home Office has also been trying to get Iran to accept Farid, but to no avail. Three months into his detention, they continue to ignore his efforts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Is Farid stateless?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This pattern of approach, indifference and rejection continues for four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen months. For seventeen months Farid languishes in immigration detention because his country will not have him back, will not even respond to his many pleas; but also because the country he now lives in, thinks it ok to deprive him of his liberty for no good reason other than its inability to deport him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Is Farid stateless?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ultimately, Farid is released on bail. But he is not allowed to work, he is destined to a life of destitution, forced into criminality, rearrested, subjected to removal proceedings again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">He feels betrayed, let down and humiliated by the only two countries he knows. They both have denied him. They both don’t want anything to do with him. His expired Iranian passport and UK residence permit are not worth the paper they were printed on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Is Farid stateless?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Farid is a figment of my imagination but he is also all too real; his story is shared by far too many people whose lives have wasted away amidst the physical imprisonment of detention cells and the mental imprisonment of helplessness, frustration, desperation, and that ever nagging question; “what if?” What if my country accepted me? What if this country respected my rights? What if I never overstayed? What if it all didn’t end up this way?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Immigration detention – such a cruel and inhumane practice – offers unique insight into the human impact of statelessness. Nothing better highlights the farcical but tragic failure of any system, than people being forcibly deprived of their liberty for indefinite time periods while futile efforts are made to remove them to countries that will not have them. The immense cost borne by the individual as life, freedom, ambition, relationships, belonging, love, dignity and sanity are eroded for no good reason, is the ultimate cost of statelessness. It is the cost of the failure of states to protect the stateless.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">But to go back to the question, is Farid stateless?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Any serious attempt to answer this question takes us onto uncertain territory. That grey area where the line between statelessness and non-statelessness is not straight and sharp; but a blur, a sequence of dots that don’t follow each other, a smudge on a damp paper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">UNHCR’s guidelines on the definition of statelessness establish that the question of whether a person is stateless is one of both fact and law:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Where the competent authorities treat an individual as a non-national even though he or she would appear to meet the criteria for automatic acquisition of nationality under the operation of a country’s laws, it is their position rather than the letter of the law that is determinative in concluding that a State does not consider such an individual as a national.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In Farid’s case therefore, the question is both whether according to the law of Iran, he should be considered to be a national and whether according to the implementation this law, he actually is considered to be a national. Let us assume that being a (now expired) passport holder and having exercised his right to Iranian nationality in the past, the letter of the law deems him to be a national and was accordingly applied in the past. If so, the next question to be asked is, could the Iranian authorities arbitrarily cease to treat him as a national – not through a dramatic proclamation but through subtle indifference - and if so, does that make stateless?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The evidence available to assess if he has a nationality or not is his expired documentation and the failed attempts to communicate with and seek consular assistance from the Iranian authorities. With regard to the latter, the UNHCR guidelines state that:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">“In some cases an individual or a State may seek clarification of that individual’s nationality status with competent authorities… Such enquiries may be met either with silence or a refusal to respond from the competent authority. <strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Conclusions regarding a lack of response should only be drawn after a reasonable period of time.</strong> If a competent authority has a general policy of never replying to such requests, no inference can be drawn from this failure to respond based on the non-response alone. Conversely, when a State routinely responds to such queries, a lack of response will generally provide strong confirmation that the individual is not a national.” (Emphasis mine.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">What is meant by a “reasonable period of time” is not further elaborated on. However, there is a clue in UNHCR’s second set of guidelines on identifying stateless persons, according to which:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">“In general, it is undesirable for a first instance decision to be issued more than <strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">six months</strong> from the submission of an application as this prolongs the period spent by an applicant in an insecure position. However, in exceptional circumstances it may be appropriate to allow the proceedings to last up to <strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">12 months</strong> to provide time for enquiries regarding the individual’s nationality status to be pursued with another State, where it is likely that a substantive response will be forthcoming in that period.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The implication is that six months is a reasonable period of time within which to decide if a person is stateless or not, and that this can be extended to a maximum of one year, if it is likely to result in a substantive response.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">However, closer study of these two quotes from UNHCR guidelines reveals that they are not necessarily in sync. The first says that if a state as a matter of practice never responds to such queries, the failure to respond should not be construed as evidence of statelessness; whereas the second says that the process of identification of statelessness should happen within a six month period, extendable to one year only if this is likely to result in a substantive response from the state being asked. The contradiction here is that the first set of guidelines caution against jumping to any hasty conclusions based on the habitual non-responsiveness of states, whereas the second only allow for the recommended six month timeframe to be extended if the state being asked is likely to be responsive (i.e. is not a habitually non-responsive state).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If the first set of guidelines only were to be applied to Farid, the result would be that Iran’s failing would not in itself be seen as evidence of his statelessness as it is common practice for Iran to not cooperate with such requests. If the second set of guidelines were applied, the result would be that a decision on Farid’s status would have to be taken within six months, as any extension is unlikely to increase the likelihood of cooperation and result in a substantive response. And when both sets of guidelines are applied, the decision would be taken in six months, and it would be that there isn’t sufficient evidence to establish whether he is stateless or not – i.e. it would be a non-decision. This places Farid right back in a situation of limbo, the “insecure position” cautioned against in the second set of guidelines. It increases his vulnerability and erodes his human rights protection. It is a grey area that is academically challenging, but humanly devastating.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It must be acknowledged that Farid’s case is set in the context of removal – Iran was not asked if he was considered to be a national or not. Rather, based on the UK’s assumption that he was an Iranian national, Iran was asked to facilitate his removal to Iran. But as he is my creation, let’s reinvent him as someone applying for recognition as a stateless person under the now one year old UK statelessness determination procedure. If under this process, Iran refused to answer questions about Farid’s nationality for 17 months, should he be considered stateless after 6 months, 12 months or never? And if he is considered stateless after 6 or 12 months, is the point of recognition, the point at which he becomes stateless, or is it the point at which his pre-existing state of statelessness was finally accepted? This question is an important one, because in a situation like Farid’s the very act of questioning whether he has a nationality or not, may be the trigger for a country to arbitrarily deny him of his nationality. By being asked if Farid is considered to be an Iranian citizen, the opportunity is provided for the country to say he is not or to refuse to cooperate until it is only rational to conclude that he is not. In such a situation, the more time a country is given to continue denying, perhaps in the hope that it would accept responsibility for its own, the longer the period of insecurity and limbo for the individual concerned.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is perhaps an impossible problem to get around. A Dworkinian hard case. However, it emphasises the need to always protect – regardless of status – be it as a person with nationality, a stateless person, a soon to be stateless person or someone whose status is yet to be determined. This is why I initially set Farid in the detention context – a setting that is prone to so much abuse; a setting in which it is so crucial to identify the stateless and those in a statelessness like situation; and a setting in which the non-cooperation of states is a challenge that must be addressed in a way that does not penalise the individual.</span></div>
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<i style="font-family: inherit;">Amal DeChickera, Head of Statelessness and Nationality Projects at the Equal Rights Trust. </i></div>
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<i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20.006303787231445px;">PLEASE NOTE - This blog originally appeared on the website of the European Network on Statelessness, here: </i><span style="line-height: 20.006303787231445px;"><i><a href="http://www.statelessness.eu/blog/question-%E2%80%98if%E2%80%99-and-%E2%80%98when%E2%80%99" target="_blank">http://www.statelessness.eu/blog/question-if-and-when </a></i></span></div>
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Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-9115006280237703322014-05-13T10:20:00.000+02:002014-05-23T16:37:52.635+02:00Life is Waiting…<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglIqJGueTY65lK5OBUZR_9G4C6OqQht0eXT90WdxMY8JqGXWXyjoGOERImKaqHiFbC14WOK1SLHBo-6ZqM_VPkwSiRULRL212Bc7RSbLrFW3oTOlSuPTSdBKiOKdW88blKS4elrXD-hhY/s1600/Martijn+-+sleeping.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglIqJGueTY65lK5OBUZR_9G4C6OqQht0eXT90WdxMY8JqGXWXyjoGOERImKaqHiFbC14WOK1SLHBo-6ZqM_VPkwSiRULRL212Bc7RSbLrFW3oTOlSuPTSdBKiOKdW88blKS4elrXD-hhY/s1600/Martijn+-+sleeping.jpg" height="130" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Remember the predicaments of Tom Hanks’ character Viktor Navorski in <span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362227/"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">The
Terminal</span></i></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">? After a coup in his East European country </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;">Krakozhia</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">,</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;"> Navorski
wasn’t allowed to arrive or depart JFK airport until his formal status had been
determined</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;">,
and m</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;">eanwhile was to remain stationary, unable to
participate in society, in the comparable legal quagmire of a stateless person
in no man’s land.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjywC8AsIEeU-vUNZ0IkSVTSeroqTddqzWUR2s5rlBKzhTLk1ZwVrt3tDdcza0pFxA6yqeNpQrnovXsY9WdmtahjxaOxyLEBrBZsgTubIgBjqBGDVNekevOgwlxC-REVkIWzfHghRi9HmU/s1600/Martijn+-+Skrijevski.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjywC8AsIEeU-vUNZ0IkSVTSeroqTddqzWUR2s5rlBKzhTLk1ZwVrt3tDdcza0pFxA6yqeNpQrnovXsY9WdmtahjxaOxyLEBrBZsgTubIgBjqBGDVNekevOgwlxC-REVkIWzfHghRi9HmU/s1600/Martijn+-+Skrijevski.jpg" height="132" width="200" /></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">The real story is happening with Igor Skrijevski (51) and Galina
Skrijevskaia</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"> (49), who fled to the United States from what was in
1990 still the Soviet Union</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">. Lawful stay in the US was eventually denied,
but meanwhile the USSR they left behind ceased to exist and the couple proved
unable to be deported back to this country that had now disappeared. An uphill
struggle with bureaucracy for recognition and admittance followed, ultimately
continuing to this day from that ill-defined legal space in between countries
where stateless persons are relegated to. They’ve been passing time in waiting
rooms like airports, holding cells, and asylum centres; the non-places where non-persons
often end up. After being sent to Ukraine, which in its turn tried to
return them, they became stranded in the Netherlands. Sitting in </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">waiting, now nearly
eight years ‘delayed’.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB"><b>The legal perspective</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Regardless of
possibly violated US obligations (e.g. under the HRC’s </span><span lang="NL" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=6QkG1d%2fPPRiCAqhKb7yhsjYoiCfMKoIRv2FVaVzRkMjTnjRO%2bfud3cPVrcM9YR0iyTM5JG6ezzqyTK3dP9WEpoSy%2br%2fUX3265zq4wPz0Dm3XME7v23w4buJtGuklD%2b1ocPstrJmk6cw8vHCV6DdBAA%3d%3d"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">understanding</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"> of a person’s right to enter his ‘own country’ under Article
12(4) </span><span lang="NL" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CCPR.aspx"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">ICCPR</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">), the pertinent question is what the country where
the Skrijevskis currently are ought to do with them. This question became most
pressing after the Netherlands rejected their asylum claims and moved to expel
them under the EU-Ukraine </span><span lang="NL" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2007.332.01.0046.01.ENG"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">readmission agreement</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"> – a move which the highest Dutch appeals court for
such decisions </span><span lang="NL" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/inziendocument?id=ECLI:NL:RVS:2013:BZ8704&keyword=Awb+12%2f1003"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">found</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"> unobjectionable.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">One expects to
find answers in the </span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.unhcr.org/3bbb25729.html"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">1954 Convention</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"> which aims to protect stateless people</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">. While it does offer the Skrijevskis some important
rights as administrative assistance and identity papers, many are conditional
upon lawful stay, such as access to the labour market, social security, travel
documents, and protection from expulsion. Yet at the moment there is no
obligation to grant lawful stay. Although implementation of a determination
procedure would briefly help (see paragraph 20, UNHCR </span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.refworld.org/docid/4f7dafb52.html"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">Guideline #2</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">), without a corresponding right of residence for verified
stateless persons little would improve. The UNHCR therefore recommends a
(temporary) residence permit as good practice – echoed by the UN
Secretary-General – unless protection is realistically available elsewhere or
when statelessness results from voluntary renunciation as a matter of
convenience or choice (</span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.refworld.org/docid/5005520f2.html"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">Guideline #3</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">). These two exceptions could be called the
‘alternative’ and ‘unwilling’ obstacles to residency. In the first exception a
transitory arrangement is appropriate, in the second involuntary return would
not be ruled out. However, the UNHCR narrowly interprets voluntary renunciation
and distinguishes this from the ‘loss of nationality through failure to comply
with formalities, including where the individual is aware of the relevant
requirements and still chooses to ignore them’ (paragraph 44 and accompanying
footnote, </span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.refworld.org/docid/4f4371b82.html"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">Guideline #1</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">). By the many references to the couple’s personal responsibility
and their uncooperativeness in obtaining Ukrainian nationality, choosing to
give up a nationality or choosing to refuse one, passively or actively, might
be the same in the eyes of the Netherlands (or the UK, cf. </span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKSC/2013/62.html"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">Al-Jedda</span></i></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">). Both exceptions would then apply. In their defence,
after almost sixteen years of working and living in New York they
understandably feel American. Their business and social life is there. They
also connect Ukraine with the place they fled from persecutions. Lastly,
it’s conceivable that they’ve been advised to remain stateless in order to
increase their chances of gaining readmission to the US.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">The Skrijevkis expose
an uncomfortable challenge in addressing statelessness. Can people choose to become
or remain unnecessarily stateless, and if so, are States justified in attaching
the consequence of withholding certain rights? Does the <b>right</b> to have a nationality mean there’s no obligation to have one,
just like the right to health doesn’t mean one can’t choose to live unhealthy? Here
is not the place to go into this in detail, but in short I think the answer to
the last question should be no. The reasoning in </span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/webservices/content/pdf/001-60448?TID=nunosyqumn"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">Pretty
v UK</span></i></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"> can be
applied whereby the right to life emphasises a State’s obligation to protect it,
rather than an individual’s discretion to reject it – the same could be true
for nationality.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">A short comment
is warranted on other possible obligations aside from those under the
Statelessness Conventions. In </span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/socialcharter/Complaints/CC47Merits_en.pdf"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">DCI
v the Netherlands</span></i></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">,
the European Committee of Social Rights held that foreign children are entitled
to certain rights under the </span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/163.htm"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">Revised European Social Charter</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">, whatever their residence status, hence despite the
exclusion clause in the Appendix, paragraph 1 to such effect. In </span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/socialcharter/Complaints/CC90CaseDoc1_en.pdf"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">CEC
v the Netherlands</span></i></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">,
the right to food, clothing and shelter are now being invoked for undocumented
adults. If the claim is upheld, it could bring such rights into reach for
stateless persons. Although they receive separate treatment in paragraph 3, excluding
them when the lawful residence requirement would be waived for aliens is hardly
tenable in light of the 1954 Convention’s core principle, codified in Article 7,
which prohibits treating stateless persons worse than foreigners who do possess
a nationality. Especially when the second requirement of belonging to
contracting Parties is also ignored, perhaps because of the progressive insight
that fundamental human rights shouldn’t be based on reciprocity. Whether
stateless persons could benefit from the Charter remains to be seen though.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">Finally, an important
question remains as to what sort of protection the </span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">ECHR</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"> obliges States to provide. In this regard, a
potentially important case now pending is </span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.law.yale.edu/Justice_Initiative_-_Global_Litigation_Report_2013.pdf"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">Dabetić
v Italy</span></i></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">.
Dabetić became stateless after Yugoslavia dissolved and his nationality was
‘erased’. His complaint was previously declared inadmissible in </span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/webservices/content/pdf/001-111634?TID=tngepuntzd"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">Kurić
v Slovenia</span></i></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">
for not exhausting domestic remedies, because in the Court’s view he had failed
to express any wish to reside in Slovenia. His presumed unwillingness to obtain
a solution elsewhere makes the case nearly identical to the Skrijevskis. If the
Court will find Italy in breach of (any of) Articles 6, 8, 13 and 14 ECHR, by
withholding statelessness status, a (temporary) residency permit and the more
favourable treatment provided to refugees, it will have significant
consequences for Dutch obligations. It will be interesting whether the Court
could clear the ‘alternative’ and ‘unwilling’ obstacles through independent
operation of ECHR standards.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Address unknown</b></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ybI9DPwOGwqIB-pjBXxcDKjZ-NKSbbX_1XuIH4X4ruuVMJK2PxE_0-PPQxH6I_s9D0nAg29C1MfMJrkjJu_nXAIpxh-fUUhEwiOsOBvc3g5LKcGBn2crao6k_VrBT3Yzi1ViMGFpmhs/s1600/Martijn+-+return+to+sender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ybI9DPwOGwqIB-pjBXxcDKjZ-NKSbbX_1XuIH4X4ruuVMJK2PxE_0-PPQxH6I_s9D0nAg29C1MfMJrkjJu_nXAIpxh-fUUhEwiOsOBvc3g5LKcGBn2crao6k_VrBT3Yzi1ViMGFpmhs/s1600/Martijn+-+return+to+sender.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 2011, a Dutch television programme organised a protest at the
Skrijevskis’ behest at the US embassy in The Hague. While the reporter saw his
ambitions and patience run into a bureaucratic wall, Igor and Galina stood by carrying
signs with ‘return to sender’. Standing in waiting, with quiet accusation in
their defeated looks. Igor and Galina are among more than ten million persons frequently
treated by States as undeliverable parcels, attempted to be sent back and forth.
A solution to statelessness requires political will, but above all prevention
by sound nationality laws. Drawing attention to the issue and talking about
stateless persons is a way to help, to grant them recognition and to make them more
visible.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Martijn Keeman, </i></span></span><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.479999542236328px;">Statelessness Programme Research Clinic participant 2013-2014</em></div>
</div>
Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-6279941469004727382014-04-14T22:25:00.000+02:002014-04-14T22:38:04.122+02:00Locked up abroad after the creation of an independent South Sudan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9S4jHGIreVE6Yc2tGyCY0Nx3PRB4x4gpmMlR545qrBhr-TzEOH3SAOsNUleoVOshD1cY18l83xPBDTykTCfHEnneTwnBtmcmwwv5pWiauHqBOj6GI-YNT5pwX6_pSRJCxnWL0ZYZtSPE/s1600/vluchthaven+-+outside.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9S4jHGIreVE6Yc2tGyCY0Nx3PRB4x4gpmMlR545qrBhr-TzEOH3SAOsNUleoVOshD1cY18l83xPBDTykTCfHEnneTwnBtmcmwwv5pWiauHqBOj6GI-YNT5pwX6_pSRJCxnWL0ZYZtSPE/s1600/vluchthaven+-+outside.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Your identification, please”. I hand over my passport
to the security guard of the former prison while I think of the irony of this
place, as most of its residents have been detained because they lack
identification papers. I am visiting Thomas Philip Guya (39) at the ‘Vluchthaven’
in Amsterdam, where over a hundred people with rejected asylum claims seek
refuge until they find a durable solution.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPnzqrtjyQLGKnJzjeCIwKH_3-Y5PAUEg_kBpsD-VrVWBsfbuKB5y0wvCTPXYVT3EIviucoXIh-CU4p53TFUs7HjalUru7F1KSYvT91ubMz5rpJ7Uwlucjme-cbIxB4DE6bOu9qTDMbUg/s1600/Thomas.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPnzqrtjyQLGKnJzjeCIwKH_3-Y5PAUEg_kBpsD-VrVWBsfbuKB5y0wvCTPXYVT3EIviucoXIh-CU4p53TFUs7HjalUru7F1KSYvT91ubMz5rpJ7Uwlucjme-cbIxB4DE6bOu9qTDMbUg/s1600/Thomas.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thomas was born
in a small village in what is currently South Sudan, and lived there until civil
war forcefully displaced him to the north of the country at age thirteen. He
lived in relative peace until violence once more forced him to leave his home. Eleven
years ago he fled to the Netherlands for protection. Yet, his asylum claims
were rejected “because I failed to prove I was fleeing from Sudan”. As an
illegal immigrant, Thomas lives on the margins of society where he is unable to
work or build a future. Tired of being an outcast, he now wishes to return to
his native place, despite the civil and political instability.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.4pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yet, the creation of an independent South Sudanese state in 2011
complicates Thomas’ ability to return home. When new states are created, the
newly drafted nationality laws are often limited in scope, incompatible, or may
use tight deadlines. As a result, people may fall through the cracks and are at
risk of becoming stateless. Indeed, an amendment to the nationality act of
Sudan provides that those who “de jure or de facto” acquire South Sudanese
nationality automatically lose their Sudanese nationality, irrespective of a
person’s connection to either country. There are no explicit laws for
individuals who wish to retain their Sudanese nationality. This poses a particular
threat to those living outside the newly created state, as “southerners” had to
regularise their nationality status within nine months after the independence
of south Sudan. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.4pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At this point, Thomas went to see the Sudanese Ambassador in The
Hague. “I wanted to go back to Sudan, but the Ambassador of the Republic of
Sudan told me I was no longer Sudanese, because South Sudan became an
independent country”. Recently, Sudan announced that a decision will soon be
made to activate the pending four freedoms agreements, which provides freedom
of residence, movement, work and ownership in South Sudan and Sudan. Yet, there
remains a lack of political will to resolve the nationality of people who have
a connection to both Sudan and South Sudan. A curious face peeks around the
colourful sheet that hangs from Thomas’ small bedroom doorframe. “This one is
from Sudan,” Thomas explains. “We are friends, but our countries refuse to work
together. It’s all just politics”. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.4pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ever since South Sudan set up an Embassy in Brussels, Thomas has
been trying to acquire a document to travel back to his native place, of which
he only holds vague childhood memories. Yet, the ambassador rejected him,
because he didn’t have his identification documents anymore. Thus, neither
Sudan nor South Sudan is willing to accept Thomas as its citizen. This
suggests that Thomas has become a stateless person. And as a stateless person,
you are denied one of the most fundamental rights associated with nationality:
the right to return. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.4pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiauUddJ253h74Ud9Dut8-9qIQWCvEYo8kBx3ZenYlUboKXePRwl6ui7wd8IpHbUMPR3pnZgZkxt0qDsRgvDFNPJeYGUC2Kx_LbZYeZ8f_VyNMqdS3DFiey5YIbYRAwb7zUJarnqxj_1OA/s1600/vluchthaven+-+inside.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiauUddJ253h74Ud9Dut8-9qIQWCvEYo8kBx3ZenYlUboKXePRwl6ui7wd8IpHbUMPR3pnZgZkxt0qDsRgvDFNPJeYGUC2Kx_LbZYeZ8f_VyNMqdS3DFiey5YIbYRAwb7zUJarnqxj_1OA/s1600/vluchthaven+-+inside.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thomas shows me around the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vluchthaven</i>,
where he cooks, washes and plays football with his friends. The city of
Amsterdam gives him thirty-five Euros per week for food and medication. He
explains that he needs medicines for his stomach. He picks up a little jar and
shakes it: “There is only one pill left”. When I ask him about his condition,
he explains how stress made him sick when he was detained. “They took me from
the asylum centre, because I didn’t have any papers”. He was released after
fourteen months, and joined the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We Are
Here</i> movement, which pleads for better treatment of asylum seekers in the
Netherlands. He explains that “illegals are not part of the Dutch system. We
have no rights, no home, and no job. We have nothing”. He picks up a pile of
papers with quotes from politicians and human rights lawyers advocating for better
treatment of illegals in the Netherlands. I read the first: “The obligation to
carry your ID card forces illegals to live their lives in invisibility to make
sure they will not get detained”. Indeed, Thomas explains that inside the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vluchthaven</i> he feels safe, but “when I
am out on the streets I am scared. I fear the police because I am illegal. They
may detain me again”.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.4pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Earlier this month Thomas received some hopeful news. The Embassy of
South Sudan in Brussels is willing to provide him with a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">laisser passer</i> travel document which he can use to return to South
Sudan within three months of its issuance. Thomas explains that he doesn’t want
to be in the Netherlands any longer. He picks up a recent newspaper article about
the fighting in South Sudan, and continues: “…But the situation in South Sudan
is also really difficult”. It is also questionable whether Thomas will actually
be granted citizenship upon return. “Do you think I should go?” he finally asks
me. I hesitate, but respond by asking him where he feels like he belongs in the
world. He shakes his head. “There is no home for me in this world. There is
only one home, an ideal home, and it is there in my head”.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
<em>Roselinde den Boer, Statelessness Programme Research Clinic participant 2013-2014</em></span></div>
Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-51278978153711629202014-04-11T09:37:00.001+02:002014-06-12T10:58:47.990+02:00Statelessness on the agenda in Strasbourg, and Tilburg represented in force!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">It is difficult to select a single
highlight from my trip to Strasbourg this week. Hearing different UNHCR staff
members speak with confidence about the campaign to end statelessness by 2024,
which will be officially launched next month? Or hearing the support expressed
by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights for the efforts of the
European Network on Statelessness (ENS) to help raise awareness of and address
statelessness in the region? Or speaking on behalf of ENS at a hearing of the
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Committees on Asylum and Migration and
on Legal affairs and Human Rights about ‘Eliminating Statelessness in Europe’? Or
looking out from my position on this panel to see so many familiar faces in the
observer seats as ENS members turned out in force to attend the hearing? Or holding
a hard copy of the latest ENS publication in my hands – a report on preventing
childhood statelessness in Europe that was prepared by the Statelessness
Programme in Tilburg, with input from ENS members around the region? Or hearing
about new developments and initiatives on statelessness in countries from Italy
to Latvia and from the UK to Slovakia? Or looking ahead to the further campaign
work of ENS this year, including an online petition for the protection of
stateless people in Europe that will be launched in May? Or seeing the reaction
(a mixture of empathy and incredulity) of a conference room full of people to
the situation of a stateless Tilburg University student when we screened a
short film that we helped to produce? Or joining colleagues who are fast
becoming friends in enjoying a hearty meal and easy conversation at the end of
long days of meetings and in-depth discussions on things like the prospects for
EU engagement or strategic litigation on statelessness? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEM5D0ZDJRHXjXB2NsX0eG4ErMpOHkG0e2CdxOsRtAkhp15bLgRi1mlDXNhyyhImMiNIM97dGRJvJVuw5zUCOJnCGLdor7Cvb0v1Sp_7ww2_kx4hvUC7565FSb2rn4diVcRZ8wQ28qAcw/s1600/Photo+Strasbourg+-+Laura,+Caia,+Valeria.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEM5D0ZDJRHXjXB2NsX0eG4ErMpOHkG0e2CdxOsRtAkhp15bLgRi1mlDXNhyyhImMiNIM97dGRJvJVuw5zUCOJnCGLdor7Cvb0v1Sp_7ww2_kx4hvUC7565FSb2rn4diVcRZ8wQ28qAcw/s1600/Photo+Strasbourg+-+Laura,+Caia,+Valeria.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Actually, if I had to pick just one
highlight, it would probably (selfishly) be this: posing in the cheesy
photo-area in the Palais de l’Europe with the fabulous Valeria Cherednichenko
and Caia Vlieks!</span></div>
<br />
<b><i><span lang="EN-GB">Tilburg talents</span></i></b><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Valeria is an alumnus of Tilburg Law School
who did an internship with the Statelessness Programme while she was studying
for her masters in international human rights law and wrote her Masters’ thesis
on statelessness. Determined to pursue the issue further when she left Tilburg,
she secured a PhD position at Carlos III University in Madrid and set out to
research into Spain’s policy and practice on statelessness. Now, Valeria is
about to embark on a brand new challenge as a consultant with UNHCR’s office in
Brussels to help support statelessness activities around the region in the
coming months. Valeria was in Strasbourg to get a head start on this new job
(which she officially starts later in the month) by participating in the series
of statelessness activities that were being organised there this week. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Caia is a current student of Tilburg Law
School, where she will soon complete the Research Masters programme. She also
interned with us at the Statelessness Programme and wrote her Masters’
dissertation on whether an obligation to determine statelessness can be
distilled from the European Convention of Human Rights. This piece of research
– which was incredibly well executed – was identified as a potential resource
for discussions that were being initiated within the European Network on
Statelessness about the prospects for strategic litigation on statelessness in
the region. Caia was commissioned to draft a discussion paper based on her
study of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and was invited to
Strasbourg to present it to the lawyers and legal aid organisations which were
convened to discuss cooperation on strategic litigation (one of the many
meetings crammed into this exciting week).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span lang="EN-GB">Strasbourg and statelessness</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Since the mid-1990s, when the dissolution
of the USSR and of Yugoslavia left hundreds of thousands of people in Europe
without a nationality, statelessness has been on and off the agenda of the
Council of Europe and of its institutions in Strasbourg. In 1997, a dedicated
regional treaty providing, among other things, safeguards to ensure the
enjoyment of the right to a nationality was adopted: the European Convention on
Nationality. A series of conferences on nationality was convened, with legal
experts and government policy makers invited to discuss the challenges faced in
this field. In 2006, another regional treaty was passed, this one dealing
specifically with the avoidance of statelessness in the context of state
succession. Various relevant recommendations have been passed by the Committee
of Ministers and the European Court of Human Rights has been seized with a
number of cases in which the denial of nationality or the impact of
statelessness was addressed. A new chapter was added this week, with the <a href="http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-DocDetails-EN.asp?FileID=20872&lang=EN" target="_blank">adoptionof a further resolution and recommendation on access to nationality</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvCqHQ9z8nnKnOYj3tnVSsUSm0QJssoJScVQT0QzAlKSpSlKAOUNP6zdD0wh3wjt5INY0c2wZsBNfmW4Tx538mC-mQiN5zM_M7hKywzSkzQrsD4HRAOH5H2yld7E1KETfwlD4s88eg90w/s1600/IMAG9550.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvCqHQ9z8nnKnOYj3tnVSsUSm0QJssoJScVQT0QzAlKSpSlKAOUNP6zdD0wh3wjt5INY0c2wZsBNfmW4Tx538mC-mQiN5zM_M7hKywzSkzQrsD4HRAOH5H2yld7E1KETfwlD4s88eg90w/s1600/IMAG9550.jpg" height="320" width="191" /></a><span lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
The debate on this issue by the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) was preceded by a
special hearing, convened in collaboration with UNHCR, to consider the question
of ‘Eliminating Statelessness in Europe’. This session was designed to offer
members of the PACE committees on Asylum and Migration and on Legal Affairs and
Human Rights a chance to hear or raise themselves some fresh ideas about how
Europe can tackle the pressing challenge of finding solutions for the over
600,000 stateless people in the region today. Offering food for thought were a
trio of presenters who each brought a different perspective to the issue:
UNHCR, a member state government (Italy) and civil society. Representing the
latter of these and speaking on behalf of ENS, was me. I had the pleasure to present
a <a href="http://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/attachments/resources/Preventing%20childhood%20statelessness%20in%20Europe-issues%20gaps%20and%20good%20practices_online%20version.pdf" target="_blank">newly issued ENS report that discusses the prevention of childhoodstatelessness in Europe</a>. The Statelessness Programme in Tilburg was commissioned
by ENS to draft this report with input from ENS members from around the region,
and it highlights issues, gaps and good practices before setting out of an
agenda for action. The overall message, which seemed to resonate well with the
Parliamentarians who had gathered for the hearing: it is undesirable,
unnecessary and simply unacceptable that children are still being born
stateless in Europe today. <o:p></o:p><br />
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<b><i><span lang="EN-GB">Packing in events<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEf-k84CWo_Xz-HWxYYucAxJTc2YkAqsORT5IB9Gyb885Y-BESeY3MA0Uvz44qBrc1mJ4TCfOG3ojC1J9GSfY9c2b87knVs_BddtY1v-IhLMN6UrEGTD96rdkuZB3NYCDYh6JiW7wtsSo/s1600/2014-04-08+10.17.57.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEf-k84CWo_Xz-HWxYYucAxJTc2YkAqsORT5IB9Gyb885Y-BESeY3MA0Uvz44qBrc1mJ4TCfOG3ojC1J9GSfY9c2b87knVs_BddtY1v-IhLMN6UrEGTD96rdkuZB3NYCDYh6JiW7wtsSo/s1600/2014-04-08+10.17.57.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv9kYC4OJdAH23bWi_VIx8ax2VPLYje1m_6tLYsHb9wFk9ybfz45bjKxWOvQLFiIft7RTXF8RJKylhPO2PLye1MyX_NYo4BUSqrFcFXWdxoI4KBcxIS8vNeZDWC6uQ0YIoWXH8Tf4entU/s1600/2014-04-09+12.16.53.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv9kYC4OJdAH23bWi_VIx8ax2VPLYje1m_6tLYsHb9wFk9ybfz45bjKxWOvQLFiIft7RTXF8RJKylhPO2PLye1MyX_NYo4BUSqrFcFXWdxoI4KBcxIS8vNeZDWC6uQ0YIoWXH8Tf4entU/s1600/2014-04-09+12.16.53.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a><span lang="EN-GB">Taking advantage of the occasion of this
special hearing on statelessness, ENS lined-up a series of other meetings and
events this week. The first ever Annual General Conference was held on Monday –
an important milestone in the development of this civil society coalition which
was formed less than two years ago but had already attracted over 80 members
spread across over 30 countries. Here we shared plans for activities to support
the current ENS campaign to strengthen the protection of stateless people in
Europe, including by pushing for the establishment of Statelessness Determination
Procedures to ensure access to a protection status. We also considered the
future ambitions and work of ENS, including ideas around new campaign issues.
On Tuesday, ENS and UNHCR convened a joint conference entitled ‘Stateless but
not rightless’, which was also open to other stakeholders and drew
approximately 100 participants in total. There we held in-depth panel
discussions about how the Council of Europe institutions – in particular the
Court (but also the Social Rights Committee) can contribute to a better
response to statelessness in the region. A clear highlight here was <a href="https://wcd.coe.int/com.instranet.InstraServlet?command=com.instranet.CmdBlobGet&InstranetImage=2501605&SecMode=1&DocId=2129962&Usage=2" target="_blank">the eloquent and rousing keynote address by Commissioner for Human Rights NilsMuiznieks who reinforced the message that statelessness in Europe is solvableand that it is imperative that the existing problems not be passed to a newgeneration.</a> Wednesday was filled with a lively debate about strategic
litigation opportunities and challenges, marking the beginning of the
formulation of a strategy for ENS engagement on this – before the PACE hearing
kicked off and the Assembly provided the icing on the cake of a successful week
by adopting a resolution and recommendation packed with important messages
about states’ responsibilities to address statelessness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB">Laura
van Waas, Senior Researcher and Manager, Statelessness Programme<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-47948751731079885522014-04-08T23:08:00.000+02:002014-04-08T23:08:38.663+02:00An unforgettable experience working on statelessness with UNHCR sponsored by the Statelessness Programme<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH0rYbzGOdgYI0dUav2H-76t0UlA17OZ4KAE80dIUk2gTEOgZNXyAtxmGBPs79-PXVesOgp32VEFdpqiBd_UvmGVr4dPT14Wa0Ovy6z3tm8728VLpugJa7qDqW1FJyAWGbwLCvXNMZcL0/s1600/Sangita+internship+award.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH0rYbzGOdgYI0dUav2H-76t0UlA17OZ4KAE80dIUk2gTEOgZNXyAtxmGBPs79-PXVesOgp32VEFdpqiBd_UvmGVr4dPT14Wa0Ovy6z3tm8728VLpugJa7qDqW1FJyAWGbwLCvXNMZcL0/s1600/Sangita+internship+award.JPG" height="320" width="305" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In March 2013, I started an internship that I had long
awaited with much excitement. Through the International Statelessness
Internship Award I had the opportunity to intern at the Statelessness Unit of
the UNHCR Regional Coordinator’s Office in Bangkok and work on an assignment I
found interesting, challenging, and intellectually stimulating. This blog is to
share my internship experiences with students and potential recipients of t</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">he International Statelessness Internship Award. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I arrived in Bangkok one week before the start date of
my internship to settle down and to discover the city. After a week of
acclimatizing myself to a new environment I was excited to start work. On my first
day, I attended a regional team meeting where everyone gives an update on what
they are working on, those who went on mission share their findings, and developments
and approaches to deal with specific situations in the region were discussed. After
the regional team meeting, I sat down to talk about my terms of reference and
which assignment would be best to start with the other members of the
statelessness team Nick Oakeshott (Regional Protection Officer(Statelessness)) and
Bongkot Napaumporn (Protection Associate (Statelessness)). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The main objective of my internship was to conduct a
legal analysis of the nationality laws of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and
Viet Nam (ASEAN member states). This study aimed to provide an explanatory
analysis of nationality laws and possible gaps, and identifying good practices
in the region relating to the prevention, reduction, and protection of
stateless people that can set an example for other member states on how to tackle
statelessness-related issues.</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The underlying
reason for this study was based on recommendations to reduce and prevent
statelessness in the migration context made by the participants at <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Regional Workshop on Statelessness and the
Rights of Women and Children held jointly between ASEAN Intergovernmental
Commission on Human Rights (known as “AICHR”)and UNHCR.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Laura/Dropbox/Blogs/Sangita%20end%20of%20internship%20blog%20Thailand%20-%20final.docx" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"><span style="color: blue;">[1]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">During the first week I was mainly occupied with background
reading on the history of migration flows in Southeast Asia to obtain a better
understanding of the situation and challenges in this region in relation to
statelessness. I also read several studies on nationality laws and the main
causes of statelessness in ASEAN member states that had already been completed in
2010 and 2011.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Laura/Dropbox/Blogs/Sangita%20end%20of%20internship%20blog%20Thailand%20-%20final.docx" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">[2]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Besides that, I also participated in other activities
during the first week. For instance, I was invited to attend a regional policy
meeting where staff at the senior level discussed key topics to further develop
regional policy on protection issues, and to ensure that UNHCR policies at regional
and national level are in line with global objectives. As a note taker it was a
great opportunity to learn more about statelessness, maritime movements,
Refugee Status Determination, and temporary protection in relation to certain
groups of people in South East Asia. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">During the 2<span style="font-size: small;"><sup>nd</sup>/ 3<sup>rd</sup> week of
March, I took the preliminary steps towards analysis of the nationality laws. I
compiled a bibliography of all (legal) sources and verified whether the set of
nationality laws and implementing regulations available on Refworld (UNHCR’s
research tool available at </span></span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.refworld.org/"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">www.refworld.org</span></span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">) were complete
and up-to-date. Furthermore, I started writing a methodology and a plan of
action for this study. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After feedback from my supervisors on the methodology,
I started to analyze nationality laws. The nationality laws were assessed as
follows:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">First, the relevant national provisions that relate to
international standards to prevent and reduce statelessness were identified and
further described by setting out the substantive and procedural requirements.
Second, the substantial and procedural requirements listed in the relevant
national provisions and the relevant international standards were compared in
order to verify whether the national provision complies with the relevant
international norm. Third, the international standards that are binding on the
relevant ASEAN Member State were stressed, taking into account treaty
obligations, and any reservations and declarations that a state has made, as
well as norms of customary international law. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I received feedback from my supervisors after every country
analysis which was always a great learning moment, especially in terms of how
to explain in a clear and systematic way why a specific provision in a
nationality law can cause statelessness. Interpreting nationality laws from
ASEAN Member States, looking up relevant information provided through (non) treaty
based monitoring mechanisms and other sources gave me a better understanding of
the challenges that are faced in the region in relation to statelessness. Due
to the fact that almost none of the ASEAN Member States are Parties to the
Statelessness Conventions and are therefore not bound by them, the analysis included
consideration of whetehr or not a State would hypothetically be in line with
the Statelessness Conventions, as well as on the statelessness related international
standards that are binding on the relevant ASEAN Member State (e.g. Article 7
of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Article 9 of the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At the end of July, I started with the write up of the
report. I noticed that the more I looked into the nationality laws, the more I
came across new interesting issues relating to statelessness. Whilst writing a
report of my findings, I realized that statelessness can in theory be caused in
countless ways. Besides that, it should also be noted that a gap exists in law
and practice which leads to new cases of statelessness that cannot be derived
from analyzing the nationality laws on its own.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Looking back at close to 6 months interning at the
Regional Coordinator’s Office, the first thought that comes into mind is that
it has truly been a valuable experience. I first took interest in statelessness
- the how and what, when I was interning for nearly a year with the
Statelessness Programme where I looked into statelessness in the Netherlands.
It comes with no surprise that I was thrilled to receive the Internship Award
and get an opportunity to learn more about statelessness in South East Asia, a
region where relatively more people are affected by this phenomenon compared to
the Netherlands. Not only have I learned more about statelessness in South East
Asia, I have also been able to put knowledge into practice that I gained by
participating in the Statelessness Summer Course and a bachelor course on
nationality, statelessness and human rights offered at Tilburg University. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Most importantly, with this internship I have gained a
better understanding of how statelessness fits in the field of human rights,
the relevance of (non) treaty based monitoring mechanism and the way UNHCR implements
its mandate to prevent, protect and reduce (and hopefully eradicate) statelessness
by, among others, gathering information on statelessness, promoting accession
to the Statelessness Conventions, dealing with cases of stateless persons and
supporting legislative changes/ improvement to existing procedures to help
stateless people acquire a nationality.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Furthermore, during this internship I had the chance
to look into a case of a stateless person and to sit in several UN security
debriefings and I was fortunate enough to attend events aimed at promoting
awareness for international human rights. Some of these events were for
instance; lectures given by experts working in the field of human rights and
professors on different human rights related issues, a red carpet premiere of
the ‘Girl Rising’ movie which tells the stories of nine brave girls from around
the globe who have had to overcome hardship in their lives, the Refugee Film
Festival in conjunction with World Refugee Day to shed light on some of the
hardships encountered by families torn apart by war. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I would encourage future recipients of the
International Statelessness Internship Award not to only focus on their own
project but also try and get involved in the day-to-day statelessness work and
participate in other events. I would, for instance, recommend integrating in
your terms of reference to assist the Statelessness Officer(s) in their daily
practices one day a week besides working on your own project. This would not
only give more variation in your own tasks but it would be an opportunity to
get to know the organization better and to find out if you are keen on working
at UNHCR in the future. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Accommodation and living in Thailand:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPbDPhXEh25GWEitHtZhz07FgJ6kvbfNn6raFx8uZIZ9td0jF01ZHmpVGeMlcu6xAhTn-Jo2fBrAGpwWDVnEAhbUvYt59gt7XQbDmA1Dy-Wmipix7DLWiw3jhC30qRyd4WJD8SZhr9Hq8/s1600/sangita2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPbDPhXEh25GWEitHtZhz07FgJ6kvbfNn6raFx8uZIZ9td0jF01ZHmpVGeMlcu6xAhTn-Jo2fBrAGpwWDVnEAhbUvYt59gt7XQbDmA1Dy-Wmipix7DLWiw3jhC30qRyd4WJD8SZhr9Hq8/s1600/sangita2.jpg" height="200" width="106" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipOrFM6PSH3CsZOPnNVOBl5KmyvrdtifmIDkUEWmzUXx1aiytHfjkl1bYayz0unDo9_EyqIk-812KECprkL8Ets4zVVNoxdOKrDcH-n-5KCSmKv9JmHUtWqCj_Kauh7Bq6k0KGxY_pqFg/s1600/sangita3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipOrFM6PSH3CsZOPnNVOBl5KmyvrdtifmIDkUEWmzUXx1aiytHfjkl1bYayz0unDo9_EyqIk-812KECprkL8Ets4zVVNoxdOKrDcH-n-5KCSmKv9JmHUtWqCj_Kauh7Bq6k0KGxY_pqFg/s1600/sangita3.jpg" height="151" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiagpYzn8Gw7wJD_bJt4CADNeYcBS9c1MSmtaowiINBY3lb20W2lwpwlSEI1RoZHff-ZXmtNxpQ8GlzgsSpyp0e3ABM9xs0vJihC5kan-EDLlIDxBQGd8TlAmm5BrDR6fD4cptZNJZxGk/s1600/sangita4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiagpYzn8Gw7wJD_bJt4CADNeYcBS9c1MSmtaowiINBY3lb20W2lwpwlSEI1RoZHff-ZXmtNxpQ8GlzgsSpyp0e3ABM9xs0vJihC5kan-EDLlIDxBQGd8TlAmm5BrDR6fD4cptZNJZxGk/s1600/sangita4.jpg" height="152" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw04pIthKdd4WKGJqXKRDa0tzeCz1jgRdghlSznMdbYuaoyCcJNuPsFv9rxPVnj8Q5gKNXFdKEAheSKTAAUvOvjVspVWjHIHfsbx8zEwSUIBihhfDnZGubqpMR1C7OcJ17GAMiO75TGo4/s1600/sangita1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw04pIthKdd4WKGJqXKRDa0tzeCz1jgRdghlSznMdbYuaoyCcJNuPsFv9rxPVnj8Q5gKNXFdKEAheSKTAAUvOvjVspVWjHIHfsbx8zEwSUIBihhfDnZGubqpMR1C7OcJ17GAMiO75TGo4/s1600/sangita1.jpg" height="200" width="115" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Before flying out to Bangkok, I looked into apartments
that are for rent in areas near the office and made an appointment with a
reliable agent to view one of the apartments that she rented out. When I was in
Bangkok I realized that it is easy to find apartments and condos for rent so
there is no need to look into housing arrangements too much prior to arrival. I
decided to stay in a hotel for a week and look for accommodation in the
meantime. The average cost of renting an apartment varies greatly, depending
what your requirements are. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Funding received from the Statelessness Programme is
sufficient to cover accommodation and living in Bangkok. Accommodation can
easily be found between 200 to 300 euros if you live outside the city center
and the use of public transport (BTS) is very convenient. It is also possible
to find shared apartments. It is very common to find apartments and studios
without a kitchen since it is convenient and cheaper to buy<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>food from of the many food stalls on the
street for less than 2 euros a meal. Besides that many restaurants can be found
that serve delicious dishes from all regions of the world. </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">I opted to look for an apartment within walking
distance from the office (downtown Bangkok) and preferred to have a kitchen.
These factors have to be taken into consideration because your monthly expenses
will increase and you may need some of your own savings. </span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ZHMm2Yf3ePziosyi2SNqaAwOPIcgoA_EbQDn_3mxdcg81yqxLHo1b5GyF7HSutU3D2ufeFUq6deO6TXulwdQLzSh4dLEu17akJbCsXyBRIChURzPv3WLPUWSm2uYJ6tEJ-MLH2aOfS0/s1600/sangita7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ZHMm2Yf3ePziosyi2SNqaAwOPIcgoA_EbQDn_3mxdcg81yqxLHo1b5GyF7HSutU3D2ufeFUq6deO6TXulwdQLzSh4dLEu17akJbCsXyBRIChURzPv3WLPUWSm2uYJ6tEJ-MLH2aOfS0/s1600/sangita7.jpg" height="119" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO_ZTeE2yz0nZybAU4idnOd_s5VduAVZeFhs43QT1WAwh-M06IQZOucT19NOBtALoyfFhYtdfi1bqu97A-s7CG-bRaBnKF8X-FNPqiqYlCGFoAb5d1z58_XPgtCp8oXUwwZZHV5_m9gac/s1600/sangita8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO_ZTeE2yz0nZybAU4idnOd_s5VduAVZeFhs43QT1WAwh-M06IQZOucT19NOBtALoyfFhYtdfi1bqu97A-s7CG-bRaBnKF8X-FNPqiqYlCGFoAb5d1z58_XPgtCp8oXUwwZZHV5_m9gac/s1600/sangita8.jpg" height="116" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">Bangkok is an fantastic city to live in because
it is a blend of Asian and Western traditions. There is always something to do,
people are very sociable and I personally like the culture, the norms and
values. Interning at UNHCR also means being introduced to a big international
community, many interns and expats are working and living in Bangkok and it is
easy to meet them and exchange experiences. I would recommend to save some
money and plan trips and undertake activities during weekends such as exploring
the city, visiting temples, going to the beach or one of the islands, visiting
national parks, going out with colleagues, having drinks on one of the many
rooftop bars and enjoy the stunning view over the city, or seeing a live game
of ‘Muay Thai’ (a combat sport) and horse races in the heart of Bangkok.</span>
</span></div>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14pt; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJL1Km6i1gH8vagsTkfxo_ZXgRZz30AXpFg326pvnJCClNNX8jmQIybsS2etxBzWL10t-kySwJP_Pedb94yfGjc9-07p4l7Aoqa4PEWJ8YNVq0f3gfMpzxldl7cMbW0g4StnldJnLpOdg/s1600/sangita9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJL1Km6i1gH8vagsTkfxo_ZXgRZz30AXpFg326pvnJCClNNX8jmQIybsS2etxBzWL10t-kySwJP_Pedb94yfGjc9-07p4l7Aoqa4PEWJ8YNVq0f3gfMpzxldl7cMbW0g4StnldJnLpOdg/s1600/sangita9.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To conclude, I am very grateful to Laura van Waas for
giving me the opportunity to enhance my knowledge on statelessness, and to the
other members of the Regional Office’s statelessness team, Nick Oakeshott and
Bongkot Napaumporn for taking time to share experiences about statelessness
related issues in South East Asia and providing elaborate feedback on my work
throughout the entire internship. I have learned so much more than I initially
imagined before starting the internship. I truly value this experience, that
has given me so much insight into a field of study I have become so passionate
about and that I couldn’t have necessarily learned in a classroom setting. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14pt; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I am excited to be back in Tilburg and to complete my
masters in International and Human Rights Law and I am thrilled to be interning
again at the Statelessness Programme and to learn more about statelessness by
interviewing stateless persons in the Netherlands. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14pt; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><em>Sangita Jaghai, Recipient of the first Statelessness Programme International Internship Award</em></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span> </div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Laura/Dropbox/Blogs/Sangita%20end%20of%20internship%20blog%20Thailand%20-%20final.docx" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="NL"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="NL" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: NL; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;">[1]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR), UN High Commissioner for Refugees and ASEAN Intergovernmental
Commission on Human Rights, Report of the ASEAN Regional Workshop on
Statelessness and the Rights of Women and Children , 19 November 2011, available
at: </span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.refworld.org/docid/50f674c42.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.refworld.org/docid/50f674c42.html</span></span></a></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> [accessed 21 October 2013].<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;">
</span><div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
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</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Laura/Dropbox/Blogs/Sangita%20end%20of%20internship%20blog%20Thailand%20-%20final.docx" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="NL"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="NL" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: NL; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;">[2]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> See for instance, UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 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, available at:
</span><span lang="NL"><a href="http://www.refworld.org/docid/4d6e09932.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.refworld.org/docid/4d6e09932.html</span></span></a></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> [accessed 21 October 2013].<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-86645709543947065632014-04-02T11:50:00.001+02:002014-04-02T11:51:13.401+02:00Europe must not allow its children to grow up without a nationality<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">How do you explain statelessness to a child?</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Yes, you were born here. And yes, mummy comes from here. And yes, daddy comes from here. And yes, you speak our language. And yes, you celebrate the same festivals as us. And yes, you look just like all the other children who live and play in your neighbourhood.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But no, you are not really one of us. You are not officially a member of our community. You are an outsider. You are an alien. And no, there is also no other place for you to belong. You are stateless.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">That’s a tricky thing to explain, but harder still to justify. It’s a sad fact then, that of the 10 million plus stateless people worldwide, it is estimated that half are children: born and now fast growing up without a nationality. How is this even possible when as early as 1930, governments were drawing up international agreements in order to ensure that no child is left stateless? How is this possible when many decades ago, childhood statelessness was already identified as an entirely avoidable problem and the necessary preventative measures were already known (e.g. the norms found in the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness)? And perhaps most intriguingly, why has ‘even’ Europe not succeeded in staving off this problem, despite additional regional agreements that guarantee children’s right to a nationality (e.g. the norms found in the 1997 European Convention on Nationality)? </span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The truth, like it or not, is that Europe is still a ‘producer’ of statelessness. Day to day, this may no longer be on the same alarming scale as when statelessness was suddenly created by the redrawing of borders and disintegration of states in the Europe of the 1990s. Nor may it have the same shocking and condemnable undercurrent as when statelessness resulted from policies of mass denationalization in the Europe of the 1930s. Yet I cannot help but be both alarmed and shocked by the fact that it is possible to be born stateless in Europe today. Indeed, this is a significant concern both in countries which already have large stateless populations – such as Latvia and Estonia – as well as where statelessness is a relatively marginal issue. <a data-mce-href="http://www.statelessness.eu/blog/abandoned-parents-neglected-state" href="http://www.statelessness.eu/blog/abandoned-parents-neglected-state" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A recent ENS blog</a> highlighted just one of the many thousands of tragic stories of people born without, and growing without, a nationality. And to offer my own country by way of example: of the approx. 2000 people who are listed in the Dutch civil registry as ‘stateless’, it is astounding to discover that 1400 (or 70%) of these individuals were born in the Netherlands.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLjLHoNaUHpC8kEu05fdxJ_An-rsZlsyWzaIG90IPCu7Nv6DrqG1qx1X1_JulA_bJBpNOlW05kMAy4HcNUgISmBNaIdQaTkdo_IF1gCBp0SwTXh20LVpP0xxKDhDXKFQioW06QnAIp5h0/s1600/prevention+guide+front+cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLjLHoNaUHpC8kEu05fdxJ_An-rsZlsyWzaIG90IPCu7Nv6DrqG1qx1X1_JulA_bJBpNOlW05kMAy4HcNUgISmBNaIdQaTkdo_IF1gCBp0SwTXh20LVpP0xxKDhDXKFQioW06QnAIp5h0/s1600/prevention+guide+front+cover.png" height="320" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">In order to better understand how, why and where things are going wrong, the European Network on Statelessness took the initiative to compile a report on <a data-mce-href="http://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/attachments/resources/Preventing%20childhood%20statelessness%20in%20Europe-issues%20gaps%20and%20good%20practices_online%20version.pdf" href="http://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/attachments/resources/Preventing%20childhood%20statelessness%20in%20Europe-issues%20gaps%20and%20good%20practices_online%20version.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Preventing Childhood Statelessness in Europe</a>. It draws on existing comparative nationality law research conducted by the <a data-mce-href="http://eudo-citizenship.eu/databases/protection-against-statelessness" href="http://eudo-citizenship.eu/databases/protection-against-statelessness" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">European Union Democracy Observatory on Citizenship</a>, existing literature on problems of implementation of nationality laws and information provided by ENS members. This report looks at how Europe is performing with respect to international and regional standards in the fields of human rights, child rights and statelessness all protect the child’s right to acquire a nationality. In light of the overall goal of preventing childhood statelessness it highlights the main issues, gaps and good practices. It is launched this week, on the eve of an important series of events that will take place in Strasbourg from 7-9 April and which will focus on the challenge of addressing statelessness in Europe. The hope is that this will inspire further recognition and understanding of, and ultimately more effective law and policy to combat, the problem of childhood statelessness in Europe.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The report concludes with a series of important recommendations:</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">1. Ensure that <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">all </em>otherwise stateless children born on the territory of a European state acquire a nationality promptly.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">2. Address the inadequacy of safeguards to prevent statelessness for children born on the territory as a matter of priority in those countries with large, existing stateless populations.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">3. Ensure that restrictions on the conferral of nationality <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">jus sanguinis </em>to children born abroad do not lead to statelessness.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">4. Abolish any difference in treatment in nationality laws with regards to children born out of wedlock.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">5. Simplify procedures for birth registration and confirmation of nationality in countries with a problem of intergenerational lack of documentation.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">6. Review nationality laws to identify and revise any provisions that could lead to loss of nationality of children, leaving them stateless.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a data-mce-href="http://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/attachments/resources/Preventing%20childhood%20statelessness%20in%20Europe-issues%20gaps%20and%20good%20practices_online%20version.pdf" href="http://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/attachments/resources/Preventing%20childhood%20statelessness%20in%20Europe-issues%20gaps%20and%20good%20practices_online%20version.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #0074bd; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Click here to access the ENS report ‘Preventing Childhood Statelessness in Europe: Issues, Gaps and Good Practices’.</span></a></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr Laura van Waas, Senior Researcher and Manager of the Statelessness Programme, Tilburg University. </span></i></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20.006303787231445px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Please note that this blog post originally appeared on the website of the European Network on Statelessness, accessible via <a href="http://www.statelessness.eu/">www.statelessness.eu</a>. </span></i></div>
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Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-48104241517597827712014-02-12T18:56:00.000+01:002014-02-12T18:56:06.565+01:00Every child belongs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span lang="EN-GB">When raising awareness of the importance of
birth registration, organisations like Plan and UNICEF have done a good job of
devising compelling slogans, like “Count every child” and “All children deserve
to celebrate their birthday”. The message is that every child has the right to
recognition of their existence and proof of the facts of their birth as provided
through birth registration. This can be critically important for the enjoyment
of all sorts of child rights, from protection against early marriage to access
to childhood immunisations. These kinds of slogans have the power to portray
the importance of what is really a rather dry and technical administrative act
to a wide audience in just a few words. Impressive. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Last week I was in Geneva to help teach a
specialised short course on <i>Statelessness
and Child Rights – </i>a collaborative project of the Statelessness Programme
of Tilburg University, UNHCR and UNICEF, piloted for the first time. While I
was there,<i> </i>I spent quite a bit of time
pondering whether and how we could adopt a similar technique to that above to communicate
core messages around statelessness. Just as the human rights language “every
child has the right to birth registration” has been translated into the demand
to “Count every child”, can we turn the “right of every child to acquire a
nationality” into a more meaningful call to action?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Unfortunately, many of those who work on
statelessness – including myself – are lawyers by training, rather than
communications or public information experts. Yet, as governments, UNHCR, other
UN agencies and civil society groups start to engage on the issue more
actively, knowledge of statelessness is quickly spreading beyond the lawyerly
circles and other expertise is being brought in to operationalise policies to
fight statelessness. So, no doubt we will start to see the emergence of
increasingly sophisticated ‘marketing’ techniques and hopefully a
simplification of the language around statelessness. Already, we see a move
away from the message – sadly all too common in older publications – that
“statelessness is a highly complex legal issue”. Because, quite frankly, birth
registration is a highly complex legal, social, economic and sometimes
political issue, but that’s not a particularly helpful way to introduce it to a
new audience, which is why Plan and UNICEF have found a different approach.</div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The challenge then, is to work harder to
explain statelessness, or at the very least the importance of fighting
statelessness, in a way that any audience could understand and internalise it.
This is a vital first step, because without some sense of what the problem is –
and that it is a problem at all – no-one will be very motivated to invest the
time to learn more about it or take action to address it. For this, we need to
take a step back from the legal complexity and look at it from a more down to
earth perspective. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">One fact that I find particularly
compelling and which was emphasised throughout the course on <i>Statelessness and Child Rights </i>is that,
in any given year, the vast majority of new cases of statelessness are amongst
children. Stateless parents are often powerless to prevent their plight from
being transmitted to the next generation. If we are ever to crack this problem
and realise the right to a nationality for all, we must stop this senseless
spread of statelessness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">What’s more: children affected by
statelessness did not choose to be outsiders. Nor do they somehow exist as free
radicals without any attachments to a family, a community, a place or a home.
They have the same connections as anyone else. They have a country. They
belong. Yet their government is letting them down, right from the start, by
failing to ensure that this belonging translates into a nationality – a legal
bond which formalises their membership of the community and provides
protection, rights, empowerment, a sense of acceptance and inclusion. As
momentum grows to address statelessness and people from an increasingly diverse
range of backgrounds and disciplines, with different skills to offer, join the
cause, I hope that there will be a greater effort to distil these types of
simple messages and that someone with the know-how to do so will translate them
into clever and compelling slogans to help spread the word.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><i>Laura van Waas, Senior Researcher and Manager, Statelessness Programme</i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">[<i>This blog was originally drafted for and posted on the website of the European Network on Statelessness, see www.statelessness.eu</i>] </span></div>
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Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320028894794644620.post-72093805664943347592014-02-03T10:27:00.000+01:002014-02-03T10:27:29.772+01:00GUEST POST: Jurisprudence developed by the Supreme Court of Nepal regarding the right to Citizenship<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Courts play an
important role in defining law in Common law legal system. This is considered
good as it is supposed to bridge a gap in law. If prevailing laws prove inadequate
to address the issues at the hand, then the Court plays some proactive role to
address such problems through the interpretation of the law under its
jurisdiction. The rulings are based on universally accepted legal and judicial
principles, norms and standards. This can also be called judicial activism. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The Nepalese
Court has played a significant role in making the country’s laws clearer and in
the quest of justice. The Supreme Court of Nepal, as a head of the Judiciary
has been playing a particular role in setting principles and norms for the
protection of people's rights. This blog discusses the jurisprudence developed
by the Supreme Court of Nepal regarding the interpretation of nationality law and
constitutional provisions relating to nationality/citizenship, against the
backdrop of international human rights law. Since, citizenship has been
remained as one of the most contentious issues in Nepal for a long time, this piece
aims to shed light on some positive aspects of the developments in this regard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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One leading case
related with discrimination against women to confer nationality to her daughter
is centre-stage in this blog: <span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the 27 February 2011 decision of the Supreme Court in the
petition Sabina Damai v. Government of Nepal et. al., Writ No. 067-WO-0703 of the
year 2067 BS (2010 AD).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Fact of the case:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Ms. Sabina
Damai is a daughter of Ms. Gangamaya Damai but her father is still unknown. Ms.
Gangamaya Damai left her birthplace Dolkha district (one of Nepal’s 75 districts)
at the age of 22 and came to the capital city Kathmandu in search of
employment. There, she became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter called
Sabina. Ms. Gangamaya doesn't know who the father of her daughter is, as she had
a sexual relationship with different men at that time. <o:p></o:p></div>
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When Sabina
reached an age of 18 years (eligible age for citizenship is 16 years), she submitted
an application to the District Administration Office (DAO) in Dolkha to get a citizenship
certificate – this being the place where her mother is from and Sabina claiming
the citizenship certificate by descent. But the Chief District Officer (CDO)
denied her the citizenship certificate on the ground that her father is unknown
and rejected her application through verbal notice.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Summary of the Court's Ruling:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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In a writ petition filed by Ms. Sabina Damai, she asks for the court to
review the decision by the Chief District Officer (CDO) to reject her
application for a citizenship certificate and to order the Government of Nepal
to issue such a certificate. She claimed that she was denied the citizenship certificate
despite of fulfilling all of the requirements set by the law. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The Supreme
Court maintained that citizenship certificates have a vital importance for
every person. The citizenship certificate identifies one as a citizen of a
country. It is also a prerequisite to enjoy civil, political as well as
economic rights. One must qualify under the laws and constitution of Nepal as a
citizen, in order to get a citizenship certificate. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Since Article
13 of the Interim Constitution of Nepal 2063 (2007) guarantees the right to
equality, which means all of the citizens are equal before the law regardless
of their sex, gender and other statuses Therefore women should not be the
subject of discrimination at all, in issues relating to the citizenship
certificates as well. In fact, the court stated, the law clearly provides that
it is the right of the child to get a citizenship certificate in the name of
mother who is already a citizen of Nepal, in case of unidentified father or
missing one, as per article 8(2) of the Interim Constitution of Nepal. The
court maintained that it is the fundamental as well as human rights of the
child to get her nationality from mother.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In its ruling,
the court also pointed out that Nepal is a State party to the Convention on
Rights of Children (CRC), which provides that every child has right to
nationality and his/her best interest, should be protected. As such, the court
concluded, the Government of Nepal is bound to respect its commitments towards
child rights and observe the treaty obligations. <o:p></o:p></div>
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On the basis
of these considerations, the court ruled that since available evidence and
proof establish that Gangamaya Damai, mother of Sabina Damai (the plaintiff) is
a Nepali citizen by descent, and Sabina Damai has also born in Nepal, Sabina is
entitled to get a Nepalese citizenship certificate by descent in accordance
with the prevailing citizenship laws, as well as constitution of Nepal. The
Supreme Court then ordered the District Administration Office of Dolkha to
provide a citizenship certificate to the applicant.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Conclusion:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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The above
decision of the Supreme Court has major significance to the situation in Nepal
for three reasons: i) in maintaining gender justice; ii) providing citizenship certificates
to the thousands of eligible children whose father are missing/unknown; and iii)
observing the treaty obligations and reducing statelessness. More importantly,
in its ruling, the Court indicated the need for the state to adopt essential
measures in addressing the problem of citizenship certificate as well as
statelessness in Nepal.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In its
verdict, the Supreme Court has emphasized on the principle of equality before the
law as well as the right to nationality for all. In addition, it reaffirmed the
principle of non-discrimination which includes the right to equal protection of
the law for women and children, regardless of their status in society.
Furthermore the Court added that it is the duty of the State to abolish all
forms of ill and inhuman tradition and practices, customs, etc. against women
through the enactment of proper laws. The traditional and conservative mindset
which considers women as inferior to men need to be changed. Being two sides of
the same coin, men and women are equal <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in dignity and rights. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Today, the letter
of the law doesn't restrict a woman from conferring citizenship to her children
[(Article 8 (3) of Nepal Citizenship Act 2006]. However, it is not a well
accepted practice in Nepal – that of granting citizenship in the name of
mother, by descent. By descent is always interpreted to mean from the father or
male, reflecting the still largely patriarchal mindset in society. Indeed, the
criteria set in implementing rules under the citizenship law, namely the
Citizenship Regulation and Directives, present a there is a particular obstacle
to getting citizenship in the name of mother. These will now need to be amended
as per the Supreme Court ruling.. It is a matter which needs to be addressed soon
for a more just, peaceful and prosperous society. The decision of the Supreme
Court has therefore been welcomed by human rights community, civil rights
activists and all. <o:p></o:p></div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">This guest post was written by Laxman Lamichhane, who is an Advocate in Nepal. He holds an
LLM in International Human Rights and Refugee Law from Tribhuvan University,
Kathmandu, Nepal.</span></i></div>
Statelessness Programmehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09239776720600772219noreply@blogger.com0