Statelessness Conventions | A plan for protecting those without citizenship or rights
Nationality is a legal bond between a person and a state. Nationality provides people with identity, and enables them to exercise a wide range of rights.
Statelessness occurs when an individual is not considered as a citizen of any state, and it affects an estimated 12 million people worldwide.
The history of the fight against statelessness reaches back to 1954 when the international community negotiated and adopted the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons – the first global agreement to tackle this problem. The 1954 Convention recognizes the international legal status of “stateless persons,” and demands that they enjoy human rights without discrimination. The Convention also states that they should have access to travel documents, identity papers, and acceptable standards of humane treatment. Countries in which the stateless live are required to integrate and naturalize these people.
The scourge of statelessness could be prevented through the passage of nationality legislation and universal birth registration in countries around the world. These conditions are addressed in another international agreement, the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. This convention allows for stateless people to acquire citizenship in those countries they are linked to through birth or descent.
Both agreements – 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness – are important legal instruments to prevent and decrease this condition, and offer protection to those who find themselves in this stateless limbo. While some regional treaties and human-rights laws complement these agreements, the statelessness conventions are the only two of their kind.
Support for the conventions had been minimal. As a result,, in 1995 the UN General Assembly gave UNHCR the role to work with governments on solving this problem and protecting those affected by it. The refugee agency actively urges countries around the world to become signatories of these two stateless conventions.
1954 Convention
- 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons
- Signatory States, Declarations and Reservations
- Objectives and key provisions of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons
1961 Convention
- 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness
- Signatory States, Declarations and Reservations
- Objectives and key provisions of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness
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