The Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness was adopted in New York on 30 August 1961 and entered into force on 13 December 1975. It complements the earlier 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, which defines who is stateless and sets out their rights, by focusing instead on preventing statelessness from arising in the first place.
The treaty's core obligations include:
- Nationality at birth: A contracting state must grant its nationality to a person born on its territory who would otherwise be stateless, either automatically or upon application (Article 1).
- Foundlings: Children of unknown parentage found on a state's territory are presumed to have been born there to nationals (Article 2).
- Loss and renunciation: Loss of nationality through marriage, change of civil status, or renunciation must generally be conditional on possession or acquisition of another nationality (Articles 5–7).
- Deprivation: States may not deprive a person of nationality if doing so would render them stateless, with narrow exceptions such as nationality obtained by fraud (Article 8). Deprivation on racial, ethnic, religious, or political grounds is prohibited outright (Article 9).
- State succession: Treaties on transfer of territory must include provisions to avoid statelessness (Article 10).
UNHCR is designated as the body to which individuals may apply for assistance in presenting claims (Article 11), a mandate the agency exercises through its global statelessness work, including the #IBelong Campaign launched in 2014 to end statelessness by 2024.
As of the mid-2020s the Convention has roughly 80 states parties — far fewer than the 1951 Refugee Convention — and major states including the United States, India, China, and most Gulf and South-East Asian countries remain outside it. It is widely cited in litigation over revocation of citizenship from terrorism suspects and in disputes over discriminatory nationality laws, including those that bar mothers from passing nationality to their children.
Example
In 2019 the UK Special Immigration Appeals Commission considered Shamima Begum's case against the backdrop of the 1961 Convention's rule that deprivation of nationality is permissible only where it does not render the person stateless.
Frequently asked questions
The 1954 Convention defines stateless persons and protects their rights; the 1961 Convention focuses on preventing and reducing statelessness through rules on acquisition and loss of nationality.
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