ISI Database on Statelessness and
Human Rights

29. (...) However, the Committee notes with concern that approximately 14,000 stateless persons, including many women and girls, are currently living in the State party. It further notes with concern that children, including girls, who are born stateless in the State party must apply for citizenship before reaching adulthood.

30. Recalling its general recommendation No. 32 (2014) on the gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women, the Committee recommends that the State party adopt legislative and policy measures for the reunification of families and ensure equal access to health, legal and social services to mothers of stateless children. It also recommends that the State party systematically collect data, disaggregated by sex, age and gender, on the extent of statelessness in the State party.

27.      In line with its General Recommendation no. 38 (2020) on Trafficking in Women and Girls in the Context of Global Migration, the Committee urges the State party to:

(f)       Prosecute and adequately punish any person perpetuating slavery, ensuring enslaved women and girls are immediately freed, issued identification documentation and provided with long-term rehabilitation services.

33. In line with its general recommendation No. 32 (2014) on the gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women, the Committee recommends that the State party:

(a) Repeal the discriminatory sections of the Nationality Law to ensure that women and men enjoy equal rights, in law and in practice, to acquire, transfer, retain and change their nationality, in line with article 9 of the Convention, including the right to transmit it to their children, as naturalized Yemeni citizens, and with respect to non-national spouses; ensuring this includes full retroactive implementation of the law and the abolishment of any additional requirements placed on Yemeni women to acquire prior ministerial approval with respect to nationality;

(b) Repeal article 4.B of the Nationality Law, which discriminates against children with disabilities;

(c) Issue directives to officials issuing official identity documents that women do not require the accompaniment of a male guardian to access the services;

(d) Expedite procedures to provide civil documentation to all groups in a situation of disadvantage, including internally displaced persons, and step up efforts to raise awareness among this population of their human rights and their right to access public services;

(e) Collect disaggregated data on the extent of statelessness in the State party; and

(f) Consider ratifying the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

48. The Committee recommends that the State party:

(...)

(b) Raise awareness among the general public of the rights of the Al Muhamasheen community, ensure they are issued national identification, including birth certificates, with which they can access unrestricted public services equal to other Yemeni citizens, and strictly penalize all acts of discrimination committed against them.

31. The Committee recalls its General Recommendation No. 38 (2020) on trafficking in women and girls in the context of global migration and recommends that the State party:

(a) Strengthen the accessibility and affordability of civil registration procedures, such as the prompt issuance birth and marriage certificates throughout the State party to strengthen age verification, with a view to preventing certain forms of trafficking;

(...)

35. In line with its general recommendation No. 32 (2014) on the gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women, the Committee recommends that the State party:

(...)

(b) Facilitate birth registration through the use of modern information and communication technologies, simplify and ensure affordable birth registration procedures, and strengthen mobile teams to issue birth certificates in rural and remote areas;

(c) Collect data on stateless women and girls, disaggregated by age, ethnicity and disability; and

(d) Ratify the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

36. The Committee recommends that the State party, in accordance with its general comment No. 5 (2021) on migrants’ rights to liberty, freedom from arbitrary detention and their connection with other human rights:

(c)           Ensure that:

(iv) In line with its human rights obligations, alternative measures to detention are considered and made use of before imposing detention measures. The Committee understands as alternatives to detention all community-based care measures or non-custodial accommodation solutions – in law, policy or practice – that are less restrictive than detention and which must be considered in the context of lawful detention decision procedures to ensure that detention is necessary and proportionate in all cases, with the aim of respecting the human rights and avoiding arbitrary detention of migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons;

46.         In line with joint general comments No. 3 and No. 4 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and No. 22 and No. 23 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the human rights of children in the context of international migration, and in accordance with target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals, the Committee recommends that the State party:

               (a)          Ensure that all children of Azerbaijani migrant workers abroad and children born on the territory of the State party, in particular children born to migrants in an irregular situation and asylum-seekers, are registered at birth and issued personal identity documents and that it raise awareness on the importance of birth registration among them;

               (b)          Establish an effective statelessness determination procedure with specific procedural considerations and safeguards given the critical role of nationality for all people, including migrant workers and members of their families, and provide information, including statistics, in its next periodic report on the extent of the phenomenon.

26. The Committee notes the measures adopted by the State party to facilitate the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights by migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons. The Committee remains concerned, however, about:

27. The Committee recommends that the State party:

(a) Develop reliable indicators to determine the extent to which non-citizens are overrepresented in the prison system so that the situation can be assessed and the necessary measures taken to remedy any problems in this regard;

(...)

(d) Develop and implement specific strategies to mitigate the socioeconomic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons.

38. The Committee wishes to draw the attention of the State party to the particular importance of the recommendations contained in paragraphs 16 (racial profiling), 19 (racist hate crimes and hate speech), 23 (f) (effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Roma and Travellers) and 27 (d) (effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons) above and requests the State party to provide detailed information in its next periodic report on the concrete measures taken to implement those recommendations.

72. (a) Amend Law No. 38 of 2005 to allow Qatari women married to non-citizens to transmit without discrimination their nationality to their foreign spouses, and to their children from birth, in particular for those children who would otherwise be stateless;

73. (a) Ratify the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness;

(b) Reinstate the nationality of all persons who have been arbitrarily deprived of it, including among the Bidoon and the Al-Ghufran clan;

(c) Amend Law No. 38 of 2005 to prevent arbitrary deprivation of nationality and to ensure redress and the right of appeal before courts for all persons who have been deprived of their nationality;

(d) Prohibit the deprivation of nationality that results in statelessness and remove provisions limiting the right to public and political life of individuals whose nationality has been reinstated;

(e) Establish independent and transparent procedures to identify and determine the number and profiles of all stateless individuals in Qatar, particularly among the Bidoon and the Al-Ghufran clan;

(f) Publish any decisions pertaining to maintaining or withdrawing nationality from members of the Al-Ghufran clan, even if they have since been repealed.

38. The State party should:

(...)

(b) Collect and publish data on the situation of refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons in the State party’s territory;

(...)

(d) Consider acceding to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

14. In the light of its general recommendation No. 33 (2015) on women’s access to justice, the Committee recommends that the State party:

(a) Continue its efforts to ensure effective access to justice, full inclusion and accessibility for disadvantaged or marginalized women, such as women belonging to ethnic minority groups, in particular Roma women, women who are non-citizens, refugee, asylum-seeking, migrant, rural and older women, women with disabilities, lesbian, bisexual and transgender women and intersex persons;

(...)

32. The Committee recommends that the State party ensure an analysis of the potential gender impact of current legislation and policies regarding citizenship by developing data collection systems that capture information disaggregated by sex, age, linguistic minority, ethnic origin and disability, among other relevant factors, both on those requesting and on those obtaining citizenship, and report on progress in that regard in its next periodic report.

18. While welcoming the 2015 amendments to the law on citizenship that provide for a citizenship entitlement for children born in Belarus to stateless parents temporarily residing there, the Committee, recalling target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals, recommends that the State party:

(a) Intensify the collection of data on stateless children, disaggregated by age, sex, country of origin or former habitual residence and residence in Belarus;

(b) Further strengthen the prevention of statelessness among children, including by extending protection to children born to undocumented stateless parents;

(c) Ensure that all stateless children have access to education and health care;

(d) Consider ratifying the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, the European Convention on Nationality and the Council of Europe Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in relation to State Succession. 

8. Bearing in mind paragraphs 10 to 12 of its guidelines for reporting under the Convention (CERD/C/2007/1) and its general recommendation No. 24 (1999) concerning article 1 of the Convention, the Committee recommends that the State party provide updated statistics on the demographic composition of the population and on the socioeconomic status of the different population groups, within its territory and in the territories under its effective control, disaggregated by ethnic or national origin, gender and languages spoken, including migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons, taking into account the principle of self-identification.

15. The Committee remains concerned at the maintenance of several laws that discriminate against Arab citizens of Israel and Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and that create differences among them, as regards their civil status, legal protection, access to social and economic benefits, or right to land and property. (...)

16. The Committee recommends that the State party ensure equal treatment for all persons on the territories under its effective control and subject to its jurisdiction, including by guaranteeing equal access to citizenship, legal protection, and social and economic benefits, as well as the right to land and property, and that it amend or revoke any legislation that does not comply with the principle of non-discrimination.

20. Bearing in mind its general recommendation No. 31 (2005) on the prevention of racial discrimination in the administration and functioning of the criminal justice system, the Committee recommends that the State party:

(...)

(b) Increase awareness among minority groups, in particular Palestinian and Bedouin communities, as well as among migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons, of their rights under the Convention and eliminate all barriers preventing them from accessing justice, and continue facilitating the filing of complaints for victims of racial discrimination.

40. The Committee is concerned about:

(...) 

(e) The lack of adequate protection for stateless persons, primarily people of African descent, who entered Israel irregularly, and the revocation of the citizenship of Bedouin persons without due process (arts. 2 and 5).

41. The Committee recommends that the State party:

(...)

(e) Ensure adequate protection for all stateless persons and establish an effective mechanism to end statelessness among Bedouins. 

48. Bearing in mind the indivisibility of all human rights, the Committee encourages the State party to consider ratifying those international human rights treaties that it has not yet ratified, in particular treaties with provisions that have direct relevance to communities that may be subjected to racial discrimination, including (...) the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.