Statelessness and human rights

Abstract

Although the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has expressed that human rights are guaranteed to everyone, however, the reality is that millions of people still remain stateless and their human rights are denied. Under the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, the Contracting States have attempted to guarantee quasi-national and quasi-alien status to the rights of the stateless persons. However, many of these rights have not adequately specified or in lacking an affirmative protective mechanism. This leads to the re-examination of the human rights that are developed after the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of the Stateless Persons. Therefore, this dissertation aims to examine how the subsequent human rights have contributed in strengthening the rights and protections of the stateless persons under the international law. I argue that the subsequent human rights instruments are not just applicable to stateless persons but also have contributed in affirming, clarifying, maximizing and supplementing the rights as guaranteed under the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of the Stateless Persons. Thus, this dissertation illustrates the following: 1) The disadvantaged status, rights and protections of the stateless persons as comparative to the nationals and aliens; b) The status, rights and protections as guaranteed under the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of the Stateless Persons; and c) The relevance of the human right instruments and stateless persons and how these instruments have contributed in affirming, clarifying, maximizing and supplementing the rights and protections under the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of the Stateless Persons.