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  • Burma: An Opportunity to Expand Humanitarian Space 01/11/2012

    After nearly 50 years of brutal military rule, Burma is embarking upon a landmark transition to civilian administration. The country has seen some promising political reforms. But the world’s longest civil war, coupled with natural disasters within the country, has created serious humanitarian needs which still persist. Recently, the Burmese government has demonstrated a willingness to cooperate with humanitarian agencies.
  • Kuwait: Gender Discrimination Creates Statelessness and Endangers Families 10/17/2011
    Gender discrimination in Kuwait’s nationality laws increases the incidence of statelessness by rendering children of Kuwaiti women and bidoun men stateless. Statelessness exposes women to heightened risks of abuse and exploitation. It also endangers family life. Some women are forced to divorce to try to pass nationality to their children, some are forced into marriages to try to acquire nationality, and others never marry in order to avoid statelessness for future generations.
  • Latvia: The Perilous State of Nationality Rights 01/31/2011

    Two decades after Latvia reasserted its independence during the breakup of the former Soviet Union, references to its traumatic past still surface in the media and during political debates. Often the Russian-speaking minority is blamed for the crimes of the Soviet regime. Divisive rhetoric of us and them reflects social schisms based on ethno-centric power-grabbing and vilification of “the other.” In the mid 1990s, the Latvian government created a category of “non-citizens”, which continues to impede hundreds of thousands of people from enjoying their right to a nationality.
  • República Dominicana: Nuevas oportunidades para el cambio 10/13/2010
    La solidaridad impresionante de la República Dominicana tras el terremoto de enero en el vecino país de Haití ya ha conducido a mejores relaciones entre ambos países, que deben mantenerse con la celebración de un acuerdo bilateral sobre política migratoria que respete los derechos humanos. El Gobierno de la República Dominicana debería establecer el reglamento, largamente esperado, de la Ley de Migración de 2004 e instituir un proceso transparente de regularización que abra el camino para la legalización de los extranjeros que han vivido en la República Dominicana durante mucho tiempo.
  • Dominican Republic: New Chances for Change 10/13/2010
    The impressive solidarity demonstrated by the Dominican Republic in the aftermath of the January earthquake in neighboring Haiti already has led to improved relations between the countries. This must be sustained by reaching bilateral agreement on a migration policy which respects human rights. The Dominican Government should pass the long-awaited regulations for the 2004 Migration Law and put in place a transparent regularization process that gives a path to legal status to foreigners who have lived in the DR for long periods.
  • Kuwait: Still Stalling on Statelessness 05/12/2010
    The government of Kuwait continues to balk at granting nationality to its approximately 90,000 stateless residents, or bidoon. Lack of legal status impacts all areas of their lives. Kuwait must begin immediate and transparent reviews of all bidoon cases towards providing naturalization. Meanwhile Kuwait should guarantee the bidoon the right to work and earn equitable incomes, allow their children to enroll in public schools, provide them healthcare free of charge, and issue certificates that record births, marriages, and deaths.
  • Statelessness: International Blind Spot Linked to Global Concerns 09/02/2009

    Sometimes even the obvious can get overlooked.  When world leaders gather to address hot issues such as security, governance, poverty, discrimination, human trafficking, and climate change, they invariably skirt around one of the problems that links them all: statelessness. Taking steps to uphold the nationality rights of the more than 12 million stateless persons around the world could go a long way toward responding to these inter-related challenges.  Addressing statelessness, an international blind spot, may turn out to be the ideal solution.  
  • Rohingya: Burma’s Forgotten Minority 12/18/2008

    Among Burma’s ethnic minorities, the Rohingya, a stateless population, stand out for their particularly harsh treatment by Burmese authorities and their invisibility as a persecuted minority.  Despite decades of severe repression, there has been minimal international response to the needs of this extremely vulnerable population compared to other Burmese refugees.  The United Nations (UN) and donor governments should integrate the Rohingya into their regional responses for Burmese refugees.  Host countries should allow the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and implementing partners to prov
  • Bangladesh: Maintain Momentum to Guarantee Citizenship Rights 09/25/2008

    For the first time since Bangladesh gained independence in 1971, Urdu speaking minorities will be eligible to vote in December’s parliamentary elections. A High Court judgment last May confirmed the group’s rights to Bangladeshi citizenship, ending nearly four decades of political and socio-economic exclusion.

  • Kuwait: Honor Nationality Rights of the Bidun 09/17/2008

    Kuwait must begin immediate and transparent reviews of all bidun cases towards providing naturalization and at the same time consider undertaking a tolerance campaign to address discrimination in the society at large. Kuwait should provide civil registry and social services equitably, particularly ensuring that birth certificates, inclusive of name, are provided for all children. The Government of Kuwait must move to resolve statelessness within its borders.

  • Ethiopia-Eritrea: Stalemate Takes Toll on Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean Origin 05/30/2008
    Despite strong historic and ethnic ties, relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia have rarely been smooth. As a result, and particularly over the past decade, nationality rights of residents of both countries have been at risk.
  • Dominican Republic: Time to Move Forward to Resolve Statelessness 05/28/2008

    On May 16, President Leonel Fernandez won a further term in office using the electoral slogan "Pa'lante" ("moving forward") with a campaign message of modernization and development for the country. But the Dominican Republic is not utilizing all its human resources to move forward. An illegal retroactive application of nationality laws is leaving increasing numbers of Dominicans of Haitian descent functionally stateless.

  • República Dominicana: Llegó el Momento de Avanzar y Resolver la Apatridia 05/28/2008

    Cientos de miles de personas han quedado en un limbo legal y, en práctica, una gran mayoría de ellas se ven sin acceso ni a la nacionalidad dominicana ni a la haitiana.

  • Kenya: National Registration Processes Leave Minorities on the Edge of Statelessness 05/23/2008

    The ethnic divides that Kenya’s election crisis brought to light overshadow another longstanding form of marginalization: obstacles to citizenship faced by minority groups such as the Nubians, Kenyan Somalis, and coastal Arabs in the national identification (ID) card registration process.

  • Kazakhstan: Neglecting Refugees, Engendering Statelessness 12/20/2007

    In multi-ethnic Kazakhstan, while the situation for refugees is tenuous, that of stateless persons remains unknown. This obscurity has less to do with the relatively small numbers of persons affected than with timid legislation, inadequate implementation of the more than 40 international conventions that the country is party to, and the practical implications of these shortcomings.
  • Kyrgyz Republic: Powerful Neighbors Imperil Protection and Create Statelessness 12/20/2007

    Statelessness in Kyrgyzstan, as in other Central Asian countries, is a neglected problem. Its exact extent is unclear, with estimated numbers ranging from 10,000 to 100,000, but as part of the 2009 census, the State Committee on Migration in coordination with the United Nations Refugee Agency, which has a mandate for stateless persons, is undertaking a survey on statelessness.

  • Kuwait: State of Exclusion 07/25/2007

    The Arabic word, “bidun,” meaning “without” and short for “bidun jinsiya” (without citizenship), is used to denote longtime residents of Kuwait who are stateless.

    The estimated number of bidun in Kuwait ranges from 90,000 to 130,000, less than half the number who resided in the country prior to Iraq’s invasion in 1990. Those who remain are subject to systematic discrimination and their future is uncertain.

  • Malaysia: Undocumented Children in Sabah Vulnerable to Statelessness 06/13/2007

    Decades of irregular migration to Sabah in eastern Malaysia have resulted in large numbers of undocumented children of migrants from the Philippines and Indonesia who are potentially at risk of statelessness.

  • República Dominicana, Haití y los Estados Unidos: Deben Proteger los Derechos y Reducir el Número de Apátridas 06/05/2007
    Como consecuencia de los acuerdos sobre los trabajadores migratorios y la falta de regulación sobre la migración desde hace muchos años, ha surgido una nueva subclase permanente de personas de origen haitiano en el Caribe, e incluso en la República Dominicana.
  • Côte d’ Ivoire: Address Root Causes of Conflict to Prevent and Reduce Statelessness 02/15/2007

    Nationality and identity are at the root of the four-year conflict in Côte d’Ivoire, a country whose instability threatens peace and security in West Africa.