Statelessness

In this section

Introduction

Today, millions of people around the world are stateless. A stateless person does not have the nationality of any country. Some people are born stateless, but others become stateless. As a result, they often aren't allowed to go to school, see a doctor, get a job, open a bank account, buy a house or even get married.

National Legislation Relating to Nationality, Citizenship and Statelessness

National Legislation Relating to Nationality, Citizenship and Statelessness

Legal Documents Related to Statelessness

Conventions

UN General Assembly

Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, 28 September 1954
Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 30 August 1961

International

Calls for accession to the statelessness conventions by the UN General Assembly and international and regional bodies, UNHCR, July 2013
Extracts relating to nationality and statelessness from selected universal and regional human rights instruments, UNHCR, November 2009
Articles on Nationality of Natural Persons in relation to the Succession of States, International Law Commission, 3 April 1999
Extracts of selected General Comments and Recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies relating to nationality and statelessness, UNHCR, November 2009
General recommendation No. 32 on the gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women, CEDAW, CEDAW/C/GC/32, 5 November 2014
United Nations General Assembly Resolutions of particular relevance to statelessness and nationality, updated 16 May 2014
Human Rights Council resolutions relating to nationality and statelessness (from 2006)
Commission on Human Rights resolutions on arbitrary deprivation of nationality (until 2006)
Compilation of recommendations relating to statelessness made during the first cycle (1st - 12th sessions) of the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review, UNHCR, 11 July 2013
Compilation of recommendations relating to statelessness made during the Second Cycle (13th - 16th sessions) of the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review, UNHCR, 11 July 2013
Statement on Parliamentary Action in Support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Refugee Protection, IPU, 20 April 2011

Regional

Africa

Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights Relating to the Specific Aspects of the Right to a Nationality and the Eradication of Statelessness in Africa, African Union, 18 February 2024
Action Plan of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) on the eradication of statelessness 2017-2024, ICGLR, January 2020 (also available in Arabic, French, & Portuguese)
Declaration of International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) Member States on the Eradication of Statelessness, 16 October 2017 (also available in Arabic, French, & Portuguese)
Banjul Plan of Action of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Eradication of Statelessness 2017 – 2024, ECOWAS, 2017 (also available in French & Portuguese)
Joint Statement of the ECOWAS Ministers responsible for nationality matters on the Ministerial Meeting for the Validation and Adoption of the Banjul Plan of Action to Eradicate Statelessness in the ECOWAS Region, ECOWAS, 9 May 2017 (also available in French & Portuguese)
Abidjan Declaration of Ministers of ECOWAS Member States on Eradication of Statelessness, UNHCR & ECOWAS, 25 February 2015 (also available in French & Portuguese)
Conclusion and Recommendations of the Ministerial Conference on Statelessness in the ECOWAS Region, UNHCR & ECOWAS, 25 February 2015 (also available in French)
General Comment on Article 6 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, 16 April 2014 (also available in French)
Banjul Appeal on Statelessness, UNHCR, 6 December 2013
Resolution on the Right to Nationality, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, 23 April 2013
Recommendations of the African Union Symposium on "Citizenship in Africa: Preventing Statelessness, Preventing Conflicts", African Union, 24 October 2012

Americas

Asia

Europe

European Convention on Nationality, Council of Europe, 6 November 1997
Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in Relation to State Succession, Council of Europe, 15 March 2006
European Parliament resolution of 25 October 2016 on human rights and migration in third countries, European Union: European Parliament, 25 October 2016
Conclusions of the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States on Statelessness, European Union: Council of the European Union, 4 December 2015
Recommendations of the Committee of Ministers to Member States on the Avoidance and Reduction of Statelessness, Council of Europe: Committee of Ministers
Resolutions, Recommendations and Reports on nationality, Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly

Middle East and North Africa

Arab Declaration on Belonging and Legal Identity, League of Arab States, 28 February 2018 (also available in Arabic)
First Arab Conference on Good Practices & Regional Opportunities to Strengthen Women's Nationality Rights, Secretariat General, League of Arab States, 1-2 October 2017 - Final Declaration 2 October 2017

Statelessness Policy and Doctrine

Global Action Plan to End Statelessness 2.0, UNHCR, 2 October 2024
Guidelines on Statelessness No. 5: Loss and Deprivation of Nationality under Articles 5-9 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, UNHCR, May 2020
Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons, UNHCR, 30 June 2014
Guidelines on Statelessness No. 4: Ensuring Every Child's Right to Acquire a Nationality through Articles 1-4 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, UNHCR, 21 December 2012
Expert Meeting - The Concept of Stateless Persons under International Law ("Prato Conclusions"), UNHCR, May 2010
Expert Meeting - Statelessness Determination Procedures and the Status of Stateless Persons ("Geneva Conclusions"), UNHCR, December 2010
Expert Meeting - Interpreting the 1961 Statelessness Convention and Preventing Statelessness among Children: ("Dakar Conclusions"), UNHCR, September 2011
Expert Meeting - Interpreting the 1961 Statelessness Convention and Avoiding Statelessness resulting from Loss and Deprivation of Nationality ("Tunis Conclusions"), UNHCR, March 2014
Guidance Note of the Secretary General: The United Nations and Statelessness, UN Secretary-General, November 2018
Key Messages on Statelessness, UN Secretary-General, November 2018
Human rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality: report of the Secretary-General, UN Human Rights Council, December 2009
Human rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality: report of the Secretary-General , UN Human Rights Council, December 2011
Human rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality: report of the Secretary-General , UN Human Rights Council, 19 December 2013
Report on discrimination against women on nationality related matters, including the impact on children : Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, OHCHR, 15 March 2013
UNHCR and De Facto Statelessness, UNHCR, April 2010
Resettlement of Non-Refugee Stateless Persons - Extract from the UNHCR Resettlement Handbook 2011, UNHCR, July 2011
Climate Change and Statelessness: An Overview, UNHCR, May 2009
Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. Its History and Interpretation, commentary by Nehemiah Robinson (Institute of Jewish Affairs, World Jewish Congress), 1955 (re-printed by the Division of International Protection, 1997)

UNHCR ExCom and Standing Committee

ExCom

No. 111 (LXIV) - 2013, Civil Registration, Executive Committee on the High Commissioner´s Programme, 17 October 2013 (also available in French)
No. 106 (LVI) - 2006, Identification, Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness and Protection of Stateless Persons, Executive Committee on the High Commissioner´s Programme, 6 October 2006 (also available in French)
No. 78 (XLVI) - 1995, Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness and Protection of Stateless Persons, Executive Committee on the High Commissioner´s Programme, 20 October 1995 (also available in French)
Other Executive Committee Conclusions related to Statelessness, updated July 2010
All Notes and Progress reports on UNHCR's statelessness activities
Extracts relating to UNHCR's supervisory responsibility for the statelessness conventions

Standing Committee

69th meeting, Update on Statelessness, Executive Committee on the High Commissioner´s Programme, 7 June 2017
63rd meeting, Update on statelessness, Executive Committee on the High Commissioner´s Programme, 3 June 2015
57th meeting, Note on statelessness, Executive Committee on the High Commissioner´s Programme, 4 June 2013