In this blog I take a closer look at the issue of legal identity and birth registration for a particularly vulnerable group of children – child soldiers. At times of conflict, when children are at risk of human rights violations, and, in some places, at risk of being recruited or used in hostilities, legal identity and birth registration becomes even …
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency describes the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness as “The key international conventions addressing statelessness. They are complemented by international human rights treaties and provisions relevant to the right to a nationality”. But still there are many states that are non-parties and have …
There is no guarantee that the British Summer will happen this year, but, just in case… The Torn Identity Blog will take a short summer break, returning in August for more on legal identity, belonging, citizenship and statelessness. If, like me, you are travelling this summer – for pleasure or to join friends and family – spare a thought for …
In this blog I consider the causes of statelessness in Lebanon. The situation in Lebanon is complex, for historic reasons, due to discriminatory nationality laws, administrative challenges and its large long-term refugee population, primarily from Syria and Palestine. There is enough material to fill a whole book, never mind just the one post. In this blog I focus on statelessness …
“The people of the earth have thus entered in varying degrees into a universal community, and it has developed to the point where a violation of rights in one part of the world is felt everywhere. The idea of a cosmopolitan right is therefore not fantastic and overstrained; it is a necessary complement to the unwritten code of political and …
Recently Nigeria held federal elections to elect a new president. The elections were finally held on 23 February after some last-minute delays caused the original date of 16 February 2019 to be abandoned. I focus on the elections in Nigeria because they provide an insight into the wider issues of how to achieve a credible legal identity and adequate identity …
What does the case of Bilali in the Court of Justice of the European Union tell us about the responsibility of states to deal appropriately and effectively with stateless people living within their borders? This blog considers the non-binding opinion of the Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the case of Bilali v …
In this blog I consider the stateless population in Sabah state, part of Malaysia, how and why they are in this precarious position and what, if anything, Malaysia is doing to reduce the number of stateless people in Sabah. Who are the Sabah stateless? Sabah is a state in Malaysia and part of the island of Borneo. Â Sabah became …
The recent announcement by the Kenyan government that the full Huduma Namba or NIIMS scheme will be rolled out across the country has met with much criticism from the public, from economists, academics, lawyers and human rights groups. But what is the Huduma Namba? And why has it caused so much controversy? Â A new number for an improved legal …
“You have stumbled on in darkness, you have been pulled in opposite directions, you have faltered, you have missed the way, but, child, this is the chronicle of the earth. And now, because you have known madness and despair, and because you will grow desperate again before you come to evening, we who have stormed the ramparts of the furious …
