287 
(1) The right to a nationality is a foundation of 
human rights, and a deterrent to displacement and 
disaffection. The State is the primary vehicle through 
which individuals are guaranteed their inalienable 
rights and are made subject to the rule of law. Re-
gional stability and security are undermined when 
individuals cannot avail themselves of their right to 
a nationality and its concomitant rights and obliga-
tions and are excluded from full participation in civil 
society. 
(2) The right to a nationality and citizenship is 
therefore specifically protect in international declara-
tions and treaties, including Article 15 of the Uni-
versal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1954 Con-
vention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, 
the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Stateless-
ness, Article 24 of the International Covenant on 
Civil and Political Rights, and Article 9(2) of the 
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination 
Against Women. 
(3) In the 21st century, the adverse effects of de 
jure or de facto statelessness still impact at least an 
estimated 11,000,000 million people worldwide, who 
are unable to avail themselves of the rights of free peo-
ple everywhere to an effective nationality, to the 
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288 
rights to legal residence, to travel, to work in the for-
mal economy or professions, to attend school, to access 
basic health services, to purchase or own property, to 
vote, or to hold elected office, and to enjoy the protec-
tion and security of a country. 
(c) THE UNITED NATIONS.— 
(1) POLICY.—It shall be the policy of the United 
States that the President and the Permanent Rep-
resentative of the United States to the United Nations 
work with the international community to increase 
political and financial support for the work of the 
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 
(UNHCR) to prevent and resolve problems related to 
de jure and de facto statelessness, and to promote the 
rights of the de jure or de facto stateless, by taking 
these and other actions: 
(A) Increasing the attention of the United 
Nations and the UNHCR to de jure and de facto 
statelessness and increasing its capacity to re-
duce statelessness around the world by coordi-
nating the mainstreaming of de jure and de facto 
statelessness into all of the United Nations 
human rights work, in cooperation with all rel-
evant United Nations agencies. 
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289 
(B) Urging United Nations country teams 
in countries with significant de jure or de facto 
stateless populations to devote increasing atten-
tion and resources to undertake coordinated ef-
forts by all United Nations offices, funds, and 
programs to bring about the full registration and 
documentation of all persons resident in the ter-
ritory of each country, either as citizens or as in-
dividuals in need of international protection. 
(C) Urging the creation of an Inter-Agency 
Task Force on Statelessness with representation 
from the UNHCR, the United Nations Children’s 
Fund (UNICEF), and other relevant United Na-
tions agencies that will coordinate to increase 
agency awareness and information exchange on 
de jure and de facto statelessness to ensure a con-
sistent and comprehensive approach to the iden-
tification of stateless groups and individuals and 
resolution of their status. 
(D) Urging that nationality and de jure 
and de facto statelessness issues are addressed in 
all country reviews conducted by United Nations 
treaty bodies and relevant special mechanisms 
engaged in country visits, and pursuing creation 
of a standing mechanism within the United Na-
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290 
tions to complement the work of the UNHCR in 
addressing issues of de jure and de facto state-
lessness that give rise to urgent human rights or 
security concerns. 
(E) Urging the UNHCR to include nation-
ality and statelessness in all country-specific and 
thematic monitoring, reporting, training, and 
protection activities, and across special proce-
dures, and to designate at least one human 
rights officer to monitor, report, and coordinate 
the office’s advocacy on nationality and de jure 
and de facto statelessness. 
(F) Urging the United Nations to ensure 
that its work on trafficking includes measures to 
restore secure citizenship to trafficked women 
and girls, and to work with Member States to 
guarantee that national legislation gives women 
full and equal rights regarding citizenship. 
(G) Urging the United Nations to increase 
its capacity to respond to the needs of de jure or 
de facto stateless individuals, particularly chil-
dren, and to strengthen and expand the United 
Nations protection and assistance activities, par-
ticularly in field operations, to better respond to 
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291 
the wide range of protection and assistance needs 
of de jure or de facto stateless individuals. 
(H) Urging the UNICEF to increase its ef-
forts to encourage all Member States of the 
United Nations to permit full and easy access to 
birth registration for all children born in their 
territories, particularly in Member States in 
which there are displaced populations, and work 
with the UNHCR and Member States to ensure 
the issuance of birth certificates to all children 
born to refugees and displaced persons. 
(2) AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIATIONS.— 
There is authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 for 
each of fiscal years 2010 and 2011 to be made avail-
able to improve the UNHCR’s assistance to de jure or 
de facto stateless individuals. Such funds may be used 
to— 
(A) protect the rights, meet emergency hu-
manitarian needs, and provide assistance to de 
jure or de facto stateless groups and individuals; 
(B) provide additional resources to— 
(i) increase the number of protection 
officers; 
(ii) increase the number of professional 
staff in the statelessness unit; and 
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292 
(iii) train protection officers and 
United Nations country teams in the field 
to identify, reduce, protect, and prevent de 
jure and de facto statelessness; 
(C) improve identification of de jure or de 
facto stateless groups and individuals by car-
rying out a comprehensive annual study of the 
scope of de jure and de facto statelessness world-
wide, including causes of de jure and de facto 
statelessness and dissemination of best practices 
for remedying de jure and de facto statelessness; 
and 
(D) increase the United Nations educational 
and technical assistance programs to prevent de 
jure and de facto statelessness, including out-
reach to Member States and their legislatures, 
with particular emphasis on those countries de-
termined to have protracted de jure or de facto 
statelessness situations. 
(3) AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIATIONS
TO 
THE UNICEF.—There is authorized to be appropriated 
$3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 and 2011 to 
augment to the UNICEF’s ability to aid countries 
with significant de jure or de facto stateless popu-
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293 
lations to bring about the full registration of all chil-
dren born to de jure or de facto stateless parents. 
(d) THE UNITED STATES.— 
(1) FOREIGN POLICY.—Given the importance of 
obtaining and preserving nationality and the protec-
tion of a government, and of preventing the exploi-
tation or trafficking of de jure or de facto stateless 
groups or individuals, the President shall make the 
prevention and reduction of de jure or de facto state-
lessness an important goal of United States foreign 
policy and human rights efforts. Such efforts shall in-
clude— 
(A) calling upon host countries to protect 
and assume responsibility for de jure or de facto 
stateless groups or individuals; 
(B) working with countries of origin to fa-
cilitate the resolution of problems faced by de 
jure or de facto stateless groups or individuals; 
(C) working with countries of origin and 
host countries to facilitate the resolution of dis-
putes and conflicts that cause or result in the 
creation of de jure or de facto statelessness; 
(D) encouraging host countries to afford de 
jure or de facto stateless groups or individuals 
the full protection of the 1954 Convention Relat-
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294 
ing to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 
1961 Convention on the Reduction of Stateless-
ness and all relevant international conventions; 
(E) directing the Secretary of State to pro-
vide assistance to countries to prevent and re-
solve situations of de jure or de facto statelessness 
and to prevent the trafficking or exploitation of 
de jure or de facto stateless individuals; 
(F) directing the Office of Trafficking in 
Persons of the Department of State to continue 
to document and analyze the effects of stateless-
ness on trafficking in persons, both as a cause of 
trafficking and as an obstacle to reaching and 
assisting trafficked persons; and 
(G) encouraging and facilitating the work 
of nongovernmental organizations in the United 
States and abroad that provide legal and hu-
manitarian support to de jure or de facto state-
less groups or individuals, to increase the access 
of de jure or de facto stateless groups or individ-
uals to such organizations, and to encourage 
other governments to provide similar support 
and access. 
(2) UNITED STATES ACTIVITIES.— 
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295 
(A) IN GENERAL.—Given the importance of 
preventing new instances of de jure or de facto 
statelessness and the trafficking of de jure or de 
facto stateless individuals, and of protecting the 
human rights of de jure or de facto stateless indi-
viduals, the President shall submit to the Com-
mittee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on 
the Judiciary of the House of Representatives 
and the Committee on Foreign Relations and the 
Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate a re-
port that includes the following: 
(i) A list of countries and territories 
with significant de jure or de facto stateless 
populations under their jurisdictions and 
the conditions and consequences of such de 
jure or de facto statelessness of such individ-
uals. 
(ii) United States international efforts 
to prevent further de jure or de facto state-
lessness and encourage the granting of full 
legal protection of the human rights of de 
jure or de facto stateless individuals. 
(B) STATEMENT OF POLICY.—It shall be the 
policy of the United States to comply with the 
principles and provisions of the 1954 Convention 
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Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and 
the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of State-
lessness to the fullest extent possible and to en-
courage other countries to do so as well. 
(C) ACTIONS BY SECRETARY OF STATE.— 
(i) INCREASE
IN
RESOURCES
AND 
STAFF.—The Secretary of State shall per-
manently increase in the Bureau of Popu-
lation, Refugees, and Migration in the De-
partment of State the resources dedicated to 
and staff assigned to work toward the pre-
vention and resolution of de jure and de 
facto statelessness and the protection of de 
jure or de facto stateless individuals. 
(ii) 
COORDINATION.—To 
coordinate 
United States policies toward combating de 
jure and de facto statelessness, the Secretary 
of State shall establish an Interagency 
Working Group to Combat Statelessness. 
This working group should include rep-
resentatives of the Bureau of Population, 
Refugees and Migration, the Bureau of 
International Organizations, the Bureau of 
Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, the 
Office of Trafficking in Persons of the De-
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297 
partment of State, and the United States 
Agency for International Development, as 
well as representatives from relevant offices 
of the Department of Justice and relevant 
offices of the Department of Homeland Se-
curity. 
(D) 
AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIA-
TIONS.—There are authorized to be appropriated 
such sums as may be necessary to carry out the 
provisions of this subsection. 
SEC. 1105. STATEMENT OF POLICY REGARDING THE ECU-
MENICAL PATRIARCHATE. 
It shall be the policy of the United States to urge Tur-
key to— 
(1) respect property rights and religious rights of 
the Ecumenical Patriarch; 
(2) grant the Ecumenical Patriarchate appro-
priate international recognition and ecclesiastic suc-
cession; and 
(3) grant the Ecumenical Patriarchate the right 
to train clergy of all nationalities, not just Turkish 
nationals. 
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