About

Stateless people are among the most vulnerable on earth. To have no nationality, and hence no country to which one legally belongs, relegates millions of people globally to a life of deprivation, degradation and exclusion.  Yet despite the pressing nature of this human rights challenge, it is an issue that has been historically overlooked in academic research, teaching, and in policy debates and reform proposals.

Responding to a clear gap in research, teaching, and public policy engagement on this critical issue, in 2018 the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness was established at the Melbourne Law School and remains the world’s only university-based interdisciplinary centre dedicated to studying and finding solutions to this global issue.

The Centre was established thanks to a generous philanthropic gift over 10 years from Peter and Ruth McMullin and enjoys strong support from the University of Melbourne Law School and Chancellery. The Stateless Legal Clinic is generously supported by the Cameron Foundation.

The Centre organises its work to achieve the following strategic objectives across three distinct but interconnected spheres of operation - research, education, and public policy engagement and outreach:

1. Build the profile of statelessness as an urgent and fundamental human rights issue, worthy of dedicated research, and legal and policy attention.
2. Provide academic leadership to foster the field of statelessness studies, by undertaking and facilitating multidisciplinary, original research that influences legal and policy change in Australia and internationally – particularly in the Asia-Pacific region - to improve the identification and protection of stateless people and the prevention and reduction of statelessness.
3. Build capacity for change and reform, through providing high-quality, innovative teaching and training to current and future generations of students, lawyers, decision-makers, researchers, and other relevant stakeholders worldwide to equip them with the knowledge, skills, and tools to address statelessness effectively.