Misplaced Pages

#367632

63-694: The People's Republic of China Travel Document is issued by the Chinese diplomatic representative offices, consular offices and other foreign offices to the following persons: Chinese nationals born abroad with a jus soli citizenship may apply for the Travel Documents. They may instead directly apply for Chinese Passports if their countries of birth do not offer birthright citizenship . There are two types of Travel Documents, which are respectively valid for single entry for one year and valid for multiple entries for two years. The former type only allows

126-435: A British mother, but he did not have British citizenship. The 1994 French film Tombés du ciel and the 2004 American film The Terminal are fictional stories inspired by his experiences. Countries that restrict multiple nationality often require immigrants who apply for naturalisation to obtain official documentation from their countries of origin proving that they are no longer citizens. In others, including Taiwan ,

189-467: A Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons. Stateless refugees covered by the 1951 convention should be treated in accordance with international refugee laws. As of September 1, 2015, 86 states were party to the 1954 convention, up from 65 when UNHCR launched its conventions campaign in 2011. On December 13, 1975, the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness entered into force. It provides

252-559: A citizenship, to avoid Citizenship-based taxation practiced by the US, and to avoid Chinese censorship abroad as Chinese citizens living abroad have been subject to threats to their employment, education, pension, and business opportunities if they engage in expression critical of the Chinese government or its policies. Only states can have nationals, and people of non-state territories may be stateless. This includes for instance residents of occupied territories where statehood never emerged in

315-494: A frequent exception to lex soli is imposed when a child is born to a parent in the diplomatic or consular service of another state on a mission to the state in question. There is a trend in some countries toward restricting jus soli by requiring that at least one of the child's parents be a citizen, national or legal permanent resident of the state in question at time of the child's birth. Modification of jus soli has been criticized as contributing to economic inequality,

378-401: A modern sense. Historically, there is considerable correlation between those who would meet the modern definition of statelessness and those the contemporary ruling classes of the extant states would have deemed to be mere barbarians . However, civilizations of this period more often distinguished between a subject and a slave as opposed to between a citizen and a subject. In many monarchies,

441-665: A number of standards regarding acquisition and loss of nationality, including automatic loss, renunciation, and deprivation of nationality. In 1974, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) requested that UNHCR undertake the functions established by the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. While the convention had only 37 state parties on January 1, 2011, 33 states pledged to accede to it at a ministerial event organized by UNHCR in December 2011. As of September 1, 2015,

504-655: A petition to that effect; in February 1901 his application for Swiss citizenship was accepted). People who subscribe to Voluntaryist , Agorist , or some other philosophical, political, or religious beliefs may desire or seek statelessness. Many states do not allow citizens to renounce their nationality unless they acquire another. However, consular officials are unlikely to be familiar with the citizenship laws of all countries, so there may still be situations where renunciation leads to effective statelessness. Some may even desire statelessness to avoid future military duties by having

567-476: A restricted version of jus soli in which nationality by birthplace is automatic only for the children of certain immigrants. Jus soli in many cases helps prevent statelessness . Countries that have acceded to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness are obligated to grant nationality to people born in their territory who would otherwise become stateless persons . The American Convention on Human Rights similarly provides that "Every person has

630-627: A result of administrative and practical problems, especially when they are from a group whose nationality is questioned. Individuals might be entitled to citizenship but unable to undertake the necessary procedural steps. They may be required to pay excessive fees for documentation proving nationality, to provide documentation that is not available to them, or to meet unrealistic deadlines; or they may face geographic or literacy barriers. In disruptive conflict or post-conflict situations, many people find that difficulties in completing simple administrative procedures are exacerbated. Such obstacles may affect

693-448: A right to nationality, with special protections for certain groups, including stateless persons. In a historical sense, statelessness could reasonably be considered to be the default human condition that existed universally from the evolution of human species to the emergence of the first human civilizations. Historically in every inhabited region on Earth, prior the emergence of states as polities humans organized into tribal groups . In

SECTION 10

#1732773179368

756-468: A stateless nation is the Kurds . The Kurdish population is estimated to be between 30 and 45 million, but they do not have a recognised sovereign state. Members of stateless nations are often not necessarily personally stateless as individuals, as they are frequently recognised as citizens of one or more recognized state(s). While statelessness in some form has existed continuously throughout human history,

819-637: Is "born stateless", if born in a state which does not recognize jus soli . For instance, a child born outside Canada to two Canadian parents who were also born outside Canada would not be a Canadian national, since jus sanguinis is only recognized for the first generation in Canada. If that child were born in India and neither parent had naturalized to Indian citizenship yet, then the child would be stateless, since India confers nationality only to children born to at least one Indian parent. Although most states allow

882-572: Is a rule defining a person's nationality based on their birth in the territory of the country. Jus soli was part of the English common law , in contrast to jus sanguinis ('right of blood'), which derives from the Roman law that influenced the civil-law systems of mainland Europe . Jus soli is the predominant rule in the Americas ; explanations for this geographical phenomenon include:

945-409: Is acquired automatically, the person is a national regardless of documentation status (although in practice, the person may face problems accessing certain rights and services because they are undocumented, not because they are stateless). If registration is required, then the person is not a national until that process has been completed. As a practical matter, the longer a person is undocumented,

1008-549: Is an ethnic group or nation that does not possess its own state . The term "stateless" implies that the group "should have" such a state (country). The term was coined in 1983 by the political scientist Jacques Leruez in his book L'Écosse, une nation sans État about the peculiar position of Scotland within the British state . It was later adopted and popularized by Scottish scholars such as David McCrone , Michael Keating and T. M. Devine . A notable contemporary example of

1071-459: Is harder to discern. In those cases, one may need to rely on prima facie evidence of the view of the state, which in turn may give rise to a presumption of statelessness. Conflicting nationality laws are one of the causes of "stateless births". At birth, nationality is usually acquired through one of two modes, although many nations recognize both modes today: A person who does not have either parent eligible to pass nationality by jus sanguinis

1134-815: The American Convention on Human Rights , the European Convention on Nationality , and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child ; and is implicit in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child . Many states define their body of citizens based on ethnicity , leading to the exclusion of large groups. This violates international laws against discrimination. The United Nations Committee on

1197-556: The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women prohibits sex-based discrimination in the conferral of nationality. An important measure to prevent statelessness at birth bestows nationality to children born in a territory who would otherwise be stateless. This norm is stipulated in the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness ; appears in several regional human rights treaties, including

1260-620: The Crimean peninsula ( Armenians , Crimean Tatars , Germans , and Greeks ) who were deported en masse at the close of World War II. Another success has been the naturalization of Tajik refugees in Kyrgyzstan , as well as campaigns that have enabled 300,000 Tamils to acquire Sri Lankan citizenship. UNHCR also helped the Czech Republic reduce the large number of stateless persons created when it separated from Slovakia . At

1323-580: The Gauls immediately following the Gallic Wars , or the Israelites under Babylonian captivity ). However, there was a major difference between captive and subject populations in contrast to those living outside the boundaries of cohesive states – while both could be considered stateless, the latter typically only needed to adhere to local tribal customs whereas the former were not only expected to obey

SECTION 20

#1732773179368

1386-581: The International Refugee Organization —the predecessor to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)—was in the process of being dissolved, the convention was adopted without the protocol addressing statelessness. The International Law Commission , at its fifth session in 1953, produced both a Draft Convention on the Elimination of Future Statelessness and a Draft Convention on

1449-592: The Nobel Peace Prize in 1938. Nansen passports , designed in 1922 by founder Fridtjof Nansen , were internationally recognized identity cards issued to stateless refugees . In 1942, they were honored by governments in 52 countries. Many Jews became stateless before and during the Holocaust , because the Nuremberg laws of 1935 stripped them of their German citizenship. The United Nations (UN)

1512-594: The Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland was enacted in 2004, no European country grants nationality based on unconditional or near-unconditional jus soli . Almost all states in Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania grant nationality at birth based upon the principle of jus sanguinis ("right of blood"), in which nationality is inherited through parents rather than birthplace, or

1575-631: The United Arab Emirates , Kuwait , Qatar , Iraq , Syria , Lebanon , and Thailand . Some stateless people have received widespread public attention in airports due to their status as ports of entry . One famous case is that of Mehran Karimi Nasseri , who lived in Charles de Gaulle Airport in France for approximately 18 years after he was denied entry to the country. His Iranian passport and UN refugee documents had been stolen. He had

1638-621: The Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted. It provided both a right to asylum (Article 14) and a right to nationality (Article 15). The declaration also expressly prohibited arbitrary deprivation of nationality, which had affected many of the wartime refugees. In 1949, the International Law Commission put "Nationality, including statelessness", on its list of topics of international law provisionally selected for codification. In 1950, at

1701-1086: The Americas; Bangkok , Thailand , for Asia and the Pacific; Almaty , Kazakhstan , for Central Asia; Brussels , Belgium , for Europe; and Amman , Jordan , for the Middle East and North Africa. In 2004, ExCom instructed UNHCR to pay particular attention to situations of protracted statelessness and to explore, in cooperation with states, measures that would ameliorate and end these situations. In 2006, it provided UNHCR with more specific guidance on how to implement its mandate. The Conclusion on Identification, Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness and Protection of Stateless Persons requires UNHCR to work with governments, other UN agencies, and civil society to address statelessness. UNHCR's activities are currently categorized as identification, prevention, reduction, and protection. UNHCR has achieved some success with campaigns to prevent and reduce statelessness among peoples in

1764-663: The Chinese Embassy in Iraq organized an emergency evacuation of mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao personnel stranded in Iraq and Kuwait. The Iraqi government required the Chinese embassy to confirm the identity of these personnel. Because it was impossible for the Chinese embassy to stamp on the passports issued by Taiwan for confirmation, the Chinese embassy issued one-time People's Republic of China Travel Documents to these Taiwan residents and evacuated them to Jordan by land. (SKV) or Taba (TCP) airports and remaining in

1827-471: The Chinese embassies, consulates, and other foreign offices in person to file the application. The application fee is lowered to US$ 18 or the equivalent in local currency starting from July 1, 2019, in accordance to a new fee standard proved by the Ministry of Finance. Previously, starting on October 8, 2013, the application fee was $ 35 or the equivalent in local currency. After Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990,

1890-436: The Elimination of Racial Discrimination stated on October 1, 2014, that the "deprivation of citizenship on the basis of race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin is a breach of States' obligations to ensure non-discriminatory enjoyment of the right to nationality". In some cases, statelessness is a consequence of state succession . Some people become stateless when their state of nationality ceases to exist, or when

1953-602: The Reduction of Future Statelessness. ECOSOC approved both drafts. In 1954, the UN adopted the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons . This convention provided a definition of a stateless person (which has since become part of customary international law , according to the International Law Commission) and set out a number of rights that stateless persons should enjoy. The convention thus became

Chinese Travel Document - Misplaced Pages Continue

2016-525: The Sinai resorts for a maximum stay of 15 days. Jus soli Jus soli ( English: / dʒ ʌ s ˈ s oʊ l aɪ / juss SOH -ly or / j uː s ˈ s oʊ l i / yooss SOH -lee , Latin: [juːs ˈsɔliː] ), meaning 'right of soil', is the right of anyone born in the territory of a state to nationality or citizenship . Also commonly referred to as birthright citizenship in some Anglophone countries, it

2079-670: The UNGA asked UNHCR to broaden its activities concerning statelessness to include all states. In 1996, UNHCR was asked by the UNGA to actively promote accessions to the 1954 and 1961 conventions, as well as to provide interested states with technical and advisory services pertaining to the preparation and implementation of nationality legislation. An internal evaluation released in 2001 suggested that UNHCR had done little to exercise its mandate on statelessness. Only two individuals were tasked with overseeing work in that area at UNHCR headquarters, though some field officers had been trained to address

2142-462: The ability of individuals to complete procedures such as birth registration, fundamental to the prevention of statelessness in children. Whilst birth registration alone does not confer citizenship on a child, the documentation of place of birth and parentage is instrumental in proving the link between an individual and a state for the acquisition of nationality. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimated in 2013 that 230 million children under

2205-517: The absence of written laws, people living in tribal settings were typically expected to adhere to tribal customs and owed allegiance to their tribe and/or tribal leaders. As states began to form, a distinction developed between those who had some form of legal attachment to a more complex polity recognized to be a state in contrast to those who did not. The latter, often living in tribes and in regions not yet organized into and/or conquered by more powerful states, would widely be considered to be stateless in

2268-471: The acquisition of nationality through parental descent irrespective of where the child is born, some do not allow female citizens to confer nationality to their children. As of 2022, women in 24 countries, mostly in Africa and Asia, are limited when passing their nationality onto their offspring. This can result in statelessness when the father is stateless, unknown, or otherwise unable to confer nationality to

2331-413: The age of 5 have not been registered. Not holding proof of nationality—being " undocumented "—is not the same as being stateless, but the lack of identity documents such as a birth certificate can lead to statelessness. Millions of people live, or have lived, their entire lives with no documents, without their nationality ever being questioned. Two factors are of particular importance: If nationality

2394-428: The basis for an international protection regime for stateless persons. However, to ensure that the rights enumerated in the convention are protected, states need to be able to identify stateless individuals. Seven years later, in 1961—only one year after the 1954 convention entered into force—the UN adopted the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness . In 2014, following a series of expert meetings, UNHCR issued

2457-522: The bearer to enter and exit China once; the latter can travel to and from China multiple times within two years. If the bearer acquires a visa to a third country, they may travel to the third country. If the single-entry Travel Document is marked with "Valid for return to home country only" ( Chinese : 仅限回国有效 ), the Travel Document will be invalid after the bearer returns. Travel Documents may not be extended. The applicant shall approach any of

2520-503: The beginning of 2006, the UNHCR reported that it had records of 2.4 million stateless persons, and estimated that there were 11 million worldwide. By the end of 2014, UNHCR had identified close to 3.5 million stateless persons in 77 countries and estimated the total number worldwide to be more than 10 million. UNHCR does not report refugee populations in its statelessness statistics to avoid double counting , which would affect

2583-414: The behest of ECOSOC, that item was given priority, and ECOSOC appointed an ad hoc Committee on Refugees and Stateless People to draft a convention. A treaty on refugees was prepared with a draft protocol addressing the status of stateless persons. The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees was adopted on July 28, 1951. As of January 2005, it had attracted the signatures of 145 state parties. Since

Chinese Travel Document - Misplaced Pages Continue

2646-509: The child born in a foreign country without unrestricted birthright citizenship. Beginning around 2003, there have been changes in favor of sex neutrality in nationality laws in some nations, including reforms in Algeria , Morocco , and Senegal that may inform change elsewhere. For example, Algeria amended its nationality code in 2005 to grant Algerian nationality to children born in or outside Algeria to an Algerian mother or father. Moreover,

2709-441: The concept of citizenship as something distinct from that of a subject did not exist – people under a monarch's rule who were considered subjects typically enjoyed more rights than a slave, and would presumably not have been considered "stateless" by the monarch. But even slaves in a monarchical state were often considered to have a legal status more desirable, at least from the perspective of the ruler, compared to those living outside

2772-688: The documentation must be provided prior to the granting of citizenship. During the period between the cancellation of the prior citizenship and the granting of the new citizenship by naturalization, the applicant may be officially stateless. In two cases in Taiwan, Pakistani immigrants applied for naturalization and renounced their Pakistani citizenship. In the interim, the decisions to permit their naturalization as citizens of Taiwan were reversed, leaving them stateless. As of 30 April 2017 , Australia had 37 stateless people in onshore detention, who had been detained for an average of 2 years and 106 days and

2835-480: The emergence of the concept of citizenship in the Greco-Roman world , the status of slaves and inhabitants of conquered territories during Classical antiquity became in some ways analogous to contemporary statelessness. In antiquity, such "statelessness" affected captive and subject populations denied full citizenship, including those enslaved (e.g., conquered populations excluded from Roman citizenship , such as

2898-437: The end of 2022, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated 4.4 million people worldwide as either stateless or of undetermined nationality, 90,800 (+2%) more than at the end of 2021. The status of a person who might be stateless ultimately depends on the viewpoint of the state with respect to the individual or a group of people. In some cases, the state makes its view clear and explicit; in others, its viewpoint

2961-522: The establishment of lenient laws by past European colonial powers to entice immigrants from the Old World and displace native populations in the New World , along with the emergence of successful wars of independence movements that widened the definition and granting of citizenship, as a prerequisite to the abolishment of slavery since the 19th century. Outside the Americas, jus soli is rare. Since

3024-564: The field. As part of an overhaul of UNHCR's budget structure in 2010, the budget dedicated to statelessness increased from approximately US$ 12 million in 2009 to $ 69.5 million in 2015. In addition to regular staff in regional and country offices, UNHCR has regional statelessness officers in Dakar , Senegal , for West Africa; Nairobi , Kenya , for the Horn of Africa ; Pretoria , South Africa, for Southern Africa; San José , Costa Rica, for

3087-461: The first place, has ceased to exist and/or is largely unrecognized. Examples include the Western Sahara region. People who are recognized to be citizens by the government of an unrecognized country may not consider themselves stateless, but nevertheless may be widely regarded as such especially if other countries refuse to honor passports issued by an unrecognized state. A stateless nation

3150-408: The frontiers in tribal settings who were typically regarded as barbarians. Depending on the circumstances, a monarch seeking to conquer a frontier region would seek to either subjugate or enslave the inhabitants, but either would impart on the conquered population a change from stateless barbarian to some form of legal status in which allegiance and/or obedience to the ruler could be expected. With

3213-454: The greater the likelihood that they will end up in a situation where no state recognizes them as a national. In rare cases, individuals may become stateless upon renouncing their citizenship (e.g., "world citizen" Garry Davis and, from 1896 to 1901, Albert Einstein , who, in January 1896, at the age of 16, was released from his Württemberg citizenship after, with his father's help, filing

SECTION 50

#1732773179368

3276-522: The international community has only been concerned with its eradication since the middle of the 20th century. In 1954, the United Nations adopted the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons , which provides a framework for the protection of stateless people. Seven years later, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness . In addition, a range of regional and international human rights treaties guarantee

3339-548: The issue. The evaluation also noted that there was no dedicated budget line. Concerned organisations such as the Open Society Justice Initiative and Refugees International have called for UNHCR to dedicate more human and financial resources to statelessness. In 2006, a statelessness unit (now a statelessness section) was established in Geneva , and staffing has increased both in headquarters and in

3402-513: The latter having been separated from that identity and subsumed into an underclass ). Statelessness also used to characterize the Romani people , whose traditional nomadic lifestyles meant that they traveled across lands claimed by others. The Nansen International Office for Refugees was an international organization of the League of Nations in charge of refugees from 1930 to 1939. It received

3465-655: The laws of the state they were living in, but were often subjected to laws not imposed on and punishments not inflicted on full citizens. Among the more widely-known examples of this was the Romans' frequent use of crucifixion to punish Roman subjects, considered to be a highly degrading form of capital punishment that could not legally be inflicted on Roman citizens. Some characteristics of statelessness could be observed among apostates and slaves in Islamic society (the former shunned for rejecting their religious birth identity,

3528-522: The need of every person to have a nationality, and seeks to clarify the rights and responsibilities of states in ensuring individual access to a nationality. Some of the largest populations of stateless persons are found in Algeria , Bangladesh , Bhutan , Cambodia , Côte d'Ivoire , Democratic Republic of the Congo , Dominican Republic , Estonia , India , Kenya , Latvia , Malaysia , Mauritania , Myanmar , Nepal , Brunei , Saudi Arabia , Bahrain ,

3591-505: The number of state parties had increased to 64. States bound by the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child are obligated to ensure that every child acquires a nationality. The convention requires states to implement this provision in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless, and in a manner that is in the best interests of the child. Starting in 1994, the UNHCR Executive Committee (ExCom) and

3654-480: The perpetuation of unfree labour from a helot underclass and statelessness . Jus soli has been restricted in the following countries: Statelessness In international law , a stateless person is someone who is "not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law". Some stateless people are also refugees . However, not all refugees are stateless, and many people who are stateless have never crossed an international border . At

3717-454: The primary international framework for the protection of stateless persons and the reduction of statelessness, there are also regional instruments of great importance. The 1997 European Convention on Nationality , for example, has contributed to protecting the rights of stateless persons and provides standards for reducing statelessness in the Council of Europe region. That document emphasizes

3780-422: The right to the nationality of the state in whose territory he was born if he does not have the right to any other nationality." Lex soli is a law used in practice to regulate who can assert the right of jus soli and under what circumstances they can do so. Most states provide a specific lex soli — in application of the respective jus soli — and it is the most common means of acquiring nationality. However,

3843-748: The territory on which they live comes under the control of another state. This was the case after the Soviet Union had disintegrated in 1991 , and also in the cases of Yugoslavia , East Pakistan and Ethiopia . According to the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs , the Council of Europe Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in Relation to State Succession is the only treaty that aims to reduce this problem. Seven states have joined it. People may also become stateless as

SECTION 60

#1732773179368

3906-572: The total number of "persons of concern". Stateless refugees are counted as refugees, not as stateless. For the same reason, Palestinian refugees under the mandate of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) are not reported in the UNHCR statelessness table. Instead, they are referred to elsewhere in UNHCR's statistical reporting. While the two UN conventions on statelessness constitute

3969-558: Was set up in 1945, immediately after the end of World War II . From its inception, the UN had to deal with the mass atrocities of the war, including the huge refugee populations across Europe. To address the nationality and legal status of these refugees, the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) requested that the UN Secretary-General carry out a study of statelessness in 1948. In 1948,

#367632