Year of Action against the Deprivation of Nationality

The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion declared 2020 the year of action against the deprivation of nationality. Its 2020 yearbook serves as the cornerstone of that campaign. It reviews contexts in which major international challenges persist in confronting statelessness, such as Assam on the Indian subcontinent, the Rohingya of Myanmar, and Dominicans denationalized in 2013 in the Dominican Republic.

With the aim of respecting measures to avoid the spread of the coronavirus, ISI launched the campaign on March 18, 2020 through a webinar instead of an in-person conference in London. The title of the kick-off event was: "Deprivation of Nationality in an Era of Racism, Populism and Xenophobia: Launch of the Report on Statelessness in the World."

The invited speakers were Tendayi Achiume, United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance; Joshua Castellino of Minority Rights Group; Jawad Fairooz of Salam for Democracy and Human Rights Organization; and Laura Bingham of the Open Society Justice Initiative. It is worth noting that Ms. Achiume warned of the dangers posed by nationalist populism to racial equality. She also highlighted the need to prioritize an anti-racial-discrimination and equality approach, with particular use of intersectionality theory, in order to eradicate the structures that strip people of nationality.

Actions will continue despite the coronavirus pandemic, which could further complicate the situations of stateless persons. In addition, people are invited to sign on to a document entitled "Launching the Principles on Deprivation of Nationality as a National Security Measure," which serves as a guiding document in the 2020 campaign.

For more information, see in English: https://www.institutesi.org/year-of-action

As part of related activities, we are also pleased to report that a former OBMICA intern, Mercator fellow Rabea Niggemeyer, was a panelist in early April in a webinar on children and statelessness in Europe. The event is available online at the following link in English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFony9iGldM

An English contribution from OBMICA on the COMPAS blog of the University of Oxford focuses on the new challenges for mobility across Hispaniola under COVID-19. It is available at the following link https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/2020/new-mobility-challenges-across-hispaniola-in-the-era-of-covid-19/