XXX-Men: They Do Exist!
Author: USA Asylum Attorney
Many of us accept the fact that we are citizens of certain countries as a natural “feature “of our lives. Of course, some people would like to change their citizenship; some would like to be citizens of more than one country, some would like to give up their U.S. citizenship… but almost all of us do have that thing that is called “citizenship.”
This is not the case for everybody. One may be surprised to find out that there are people among us who are not citizens of any country. One can only imagine what those people have to go through. What do they put in the forms as their “citizenship”? How do these people travel? Can they claim asylum at all? (One who claims an asylum has to show that he will be persecuted in a particular country…)
How does a person become stateless?
It depends. It may happen due the change in the law. For example, after the Soviet Union broke apart, former USSR republics had to announce special laws proclaiming their residents to be citizens of the new formed countries. But some republics refused to accept certain residents into their new citizenship. As a result, in countries like Estonia, there are people who got “stuck” in limbo: they cannot claim to be citizens of places where they did not reside, and Estonia prohibited them to become citizens of Estonia. These persons became people with XXX nationality (not a joke, this is what stateless people have to put down as their citizenship). Unfortunately, an act of the country’s government that causes some people to lose their citizenship is not considered a basis for asylum. Previous attempts by persons with no citizenship due to change in the laws to file asylum in the US on this ground were not successful.
In fact, the problem of people of XXX nationality is not a new one. The International community have been discussing it on the highest level for decades. There is even an International convention on Status of Stateless Persons of 1954! It addresses and helps to resolve many issues that stateless person has to deal with it while trying to establish residence in a particular territory or travel. It also requires that basic human rights be afforded to stateless people to the same extent the citizens of the country of their residence may enjoy them. One of the most important provisions of the convention and its supplements, is that the countries-signatories to the Convention will issue identity and travel documents to the stateless persons which would allow them to function in the society (imagine, trying to find a job without an ID), and travel internationally.
While the Convention at issue is a great instrument to resolve this puzzle, the problem is that not all of the countries in the world have joined it. The United States or Russia for example, are not parties to this Convention.
Let’s take a look at some of the pledges the U.S. made during the Ministerial Intergovernmental Event on Refugees and Stateless Persons in 2011 available at http://www.unhcr.org/4ff55a319.pdf:
PLEDGES
“Bars to Admissibility and Asylum Eligibility
The U.S. Government pledges to:
- •Significantly reduce, through the issuance and application of exemptions to exclusion based on national security grounds, cases that are on hold for a review of eligibility for an exemption to exclusion by the end of fiscal year 2012;
- Undertake a review, to be completed by the end of calendar year
2012, to examine current interpretations of the terms under the
national security exclusion grounds, for example, the meaning of
material support, to better ensure that those in need of protection
retain eligibility for it;
Work with Congress to eliminate the one-year filing deadline for
submission of asylum applications.
Statelessness among Women and Children
The U.S. Government pledges to:
- Focus U.S. diplomacy on preventing and resolving statelessness among women and children, including efforts to raise global awareness about discrimination against women in nationality laws and to mobilize governments to repeal nationality laws that discriminate against women;
- Promote a child’s right to nationality through multilateral and bilateral engagement, including efforts to promote universal birth registration.
Statelessness and Citizenship
The U.S. Government pledges to:
- Actively work with Congress to introduce legislation that provides a mechanism for stateless persons in the United States to obtain permanent residency and eventually citizenship;
- Consider the revision of administrative policies to allow the circumstance of stateless persons to inform decision-making regarding their detention, reporting requirements, and opportunity to apply for work authorization.
It remains everyone’s hope that people who draft these pledges will also follow them.