Statelessness and the Benefits of Citizenship: a Comparative Study
Contributors: Rustem Ablyatifov; Brad K. Blitz,; Greg Constantine (photographs); Maureen Lynch; Abbas Shiblak; Abraham Korir Sing’oei; PP Sivapragasam; Laura Van Waas; Jelka Zorn
Series: Swiss Initiative to Commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the UDHR - Protecting Dignity: An Agenda for Human Rights
Publisher: International Observatory on Statelessness and Geneva Academy for International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights
Published: July 2009
Place of publication: Oxford, United Kingdom; Download available from http://www.udhr60.ch/report/statelessness_paper0609.pdf
Format: A4
Number of pages: 126
ISBN-13: 9780956327505; 9780956327512
First sentence: In a strictly legal sense, ‘statelessness’ describes people who are not considered nationals by any state.1 Although statelessness is prohibited under international law, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) presently estimates that there may be as many of 12 million stateless people in the world (UNHCR 2009). The existence of stateless populations challenges some of the central tenets of international law and the human rights discourse that have developed over the past sixty years. Most importantly, the reality of statelessness is at odds with the right to nationality which is explicitly recorded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Article 15 of the UDHR implicitly acknowledges the principle whereby an individual’s nationality is linked to his or her identity, and it states that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality” (UN General Assembly 1948).
Description: The study is the result of a project commissioned by the Geneva Academy for International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  
 
The study relies on over 60 interviews to explore the impact that changes in nationality laws have had on formerly stateless people in the Gulf states, Kenya, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, and Ukraine. It also contains a legal analysis on the state of human rights protections by Laura Van Waas and a set of photographs by award-winning photojournalist Greg Constantine.
Notes: Distributed by:

Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights
Boulevard du Pont d'Arve 40 - CH - 1211 Genève 4, Switzerland.
Phone +41 (0) 22 379 85 79 - Fax +41 (0) 22 379 84 23
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Information on this title:

http://www.udhr60.ch/
http://www.nationalityforall.org

Copyright Oxford Brookes University 2009

Photographs used with the permission of Greg Constantine. All photographs Copyright Greg Constantine 2009.
Table of contents: title: ACRONYMS
pagenum: 3; label: 1
title: STATELESSNESS: THE GLOBAL PROBLEM, RELEVANT LITERATURE, AND RESEARCH RATIONALE - BRAD K. BLITZ AND MAUREEN LYNCH
pagenum: 4; label: 2
title: NATIONALITY AND RIGHTS - LAURA VAN WAAS
pagenum: 19; label: 3
title: PROMOTING CITIZENSHIP IN KENYA: THE NUBIAN CASE - ABRAHAM KORIR SING’OEI
pagenum: 37; label: 4
title: FROM ERASED AND EXCLUDED TO ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS IN SLOVENIA - JELKA ZORN
pagenum: 50; label: 5
title: FROM STATELESSNESS TO CITIZENSHIP: UP-COUNTRY TAMILS IN SRI LANKA - PP SIVAPRAGASAM
pagenum: 65; label: 6
title: CITIZENSHIP REFORM AND CHALLENGES FOR THE CRIMEAN TATARS IN UKRAINE - RUSTEM ABLYATIFOV
pagenum: 75; label: 7
title: ARABIA’S BIDOON - ABBAS SHIBLAK
pagenum: 85; label: 8
title: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS - BRAD K. BLITZ AND MAUREEN LYNCH
pagenum: 94; title: CONTRIBUTORS
pagenum: 105; title: BIBLIOGRAPHY
pagenum: 109