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International Law and the Right to a Nationality in Sudan

Manby, B. (2011). International Law and the Right to a Nationality in Sudan. Africa Governance Monitoring Advocacy Project (AfriMAP) & Open Society Justice Initiative. Summary Among the many critically important choices that Sudan is facing in the context of the referendums on the status of South Sudan and Abyei are the criteria that will be established to determine … Continue reading International Law and the Right to a Nationality in Sudan

The compromised right to nationality in the Dominican Republic

Open Society Justice (2011). The compromised right to nationality in the Dominican Republic. In the Dominican Republic, enjoyment of the right to nationality has become all but impossible for Dominicans of Haitian descent. Since 2004, this vulnerable population has faced an avalanche of hostile legislative changes and administrative policies which have effectively stripped them of … Continue reading The compromised right to nationality in the Dominican Republic

Children’s Right to Nationality

Kohn, S. (2011). Children’s Right to Nationality. Open Society Justice Initiative. The most important international legal instrument protecting children’s right to nationality is the Convention on the Rights of the Child, given that nearly every country around the globe has signed and ratified it. Article 7 of the Convention guarantees the right of all children to acquire … Continue reading Children’s Right to Nationality

Citizenship Law in Africa: A Comparative Study

Manby, B. (2010). Citizenship law in Africa: A comparative study. Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project (AfriMAP) & Open Society Justice Initiative. Summary Laws and practices governing citizenship in too many African countries effectively leave hundreds of thousands of people without a nationality. These stateless Africans are among the continent’s most vulnerable populations: they can neither vote nor … Continue reading Citizenship Law in Africa: A Comparative Study

De jure statelessness in the real world: Applying the Prato summary conclusions

Introduction Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, as interpreted in the Summary Conclusions of the Prato Expert Meeting (“Prato Conclusions”), defines an individual as de jure stateless if all states to which he or she has a factual link fail to consider the person as a national. Most … Continue reading De jure statelessness in the real world: Applying the Prato summary conclusions

Human Rights and Legal Identity: Approaches to Combating Statelessness and Arbitrary Deprivation of Nationality

Open Society Justice Initiative. (2006). Human Rghts and Legal Identity: Approaches to Combating Statelessness and Arbitrary Deprivation of Nationality. I. Introduction: Understanding the Problem The human right to citizenship1 is under threat as never before. Since the collapse of communism in Europe in 1989, ethnic nationalism has led to the manipulative exclusion of minorities from … Continue reading Human Rights and Legal Identity: Approaches to Combating Statelessness and Arbitrary Deprivation of Nationality

Nationality and Discrimination: The Case of Kenyan Nubians

Kohn, S. (2011). Nationality and discrimination: The case of Kenyan Nubians. Open Society Justice. Relocated by force by the British Colonial Administration from the Nuba Mountains in Sudan, Nubians first arrived in Kenya in the late 19th Century. Today, despite having lived in Kenya for generations, they are still viewed as foreigners. At independence in … Continue reading Nationality and Discrimination: The Case of Kenyan Nubians

Without citizenship: Statelessness, discrimination, and repression in Kuwait

“Open Society Justice & Refugee International (2011). Without citizenship: Statelessness, discrimination, and repression in Kuwait.   This year Kuwait is celebrating 50 years of independence. But for around 10 per cent of its population—known as “bidoon”—the anniversary also marks 50 years of statelessness. ”Bidoon” means “without” in Arabic, indicating that this group—estimated to range between … Continue reading Without citizenship: Statelessness, discrimination, and repression in Kuwait