As a global society, we are becoming increasingly interconnected. People may hold one passport but be born in another and live in several more. As a result, some people find it difficult to identify where they are “from”. While this often refers to your nationality, when a person has spent their entire life living abroad it can be difficult to feel connected to a particular country and identify their country of nationality as where they are from.

However, nationality is also a legal status and sometimes there is no legal answer to the question. While some people may find it difficult to identify with their nationality, there are others who have no nationality. Stateless people are those that are legally not considered nationals of any country.

How can you become stateless?

In the movie The Terminal, a man becomes stateless because of a coup d’etat that occurred in his country. He was suddenly stuck in an US airport because his papers were no longer valid and he could not leave the airport to either enter the US or return back home.

This does not just happen in the movies. When the Soviet Union collapsed, many Soviet citizens were not able to gain the nationality of the new states in which they resided (Thomson Reuters Foundation). When people are not considered nationals, it can be implied that the state has no duty to protect the individual. As a result, it can be more difficult for them to access their basic rights and they will not have any documents (Versea). This is especially problematic once you understand that most known stateless populations belong to minority groups (UNHCR). It is a problem when those that are inherently vulnerable have no obligation by their state to be protected.

The additional vulnerability that is created through becoming stateless is not unknown and one of the ways in which a person can become stateless is through discrimination because of ethnic or religious background or belonging to a minority group (UNHCR). This is evidenced by the Rohingya genocide which resulted in most of the Rohingya people losing their citizenship.

Can you be born stateless?

Globalization

As might have been evident in the last paragraph, you can be born stateless. The world is becoming increasingly globalized and so the risk that you might be stateless increases due to gaps in citizenship laws.

For instance, someone with an Andorran father and an Iranian mother born anywhere without birthright citizenship would have no nationality. Plus, a Sudanese father born abroad would not be able to pass his nationality to his child. Also, to be considered Tunisian, your father and paternal grandfather need to have been born in Tunisia. Additionally, a Finnish woman born abroad or a Finnish man having a child out of wedlock both cannot pass their nationality on to their child (World Population Review). These gaps in nationality laws become more evident as more people are born abroad, do not live in their home country, or marry those with other nationalities.

Article 1 of the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness requires states to grant its nationality to those born stateless in their territory (Versea). This helps ensure those that are stateless have an avenue to gain legal protection.

Birthright Citizenship

Birthright citizenship assists in preventing statelessness as it allows children born in a country to gain the citizenship of that country. Countries that offer this are primarily in North and South America and it is likely because European countries wanted to promote immigration during colonial times (World Population Review). This may no longer be the case in the US as President-elect Trump would like to end birthright citizenship (Sheerin). However, seeing as this right is based on the US constitution, I believe it will be difficult to remove birthright citizenship.

Being legally stateless has legal ramifications and can make it difficult for you to access your basic rights. While being a citizen of the world is becoming increasingly common; unfortunately, not having that type of legal link to a state is not a positive thing. Fortunately, some countries allow declarations of statelessness so that people can gain a nationality but this is not true everywhere.