Global Caselaw Database on Statelessness
The Global Caselaw Database on Statelessness was established to strengthen access to jurisprudence on nationality, statelessness, and related human rights issues. It provides a practical resource for lawyers, academics, advocates, and decision-makers, complementing UNHCR and the Open Society Justice Initiative’s ‘Litigating the Right to Nationality: A Guide for Practitioners’ by bringing together decisions from courts and tribunals across different jurisdictions.
The database covers judgments that address statelessness directly, such as where the applicant is stateless or at risk of statelessness.
The Global Caselaw Database on Statelessness is an evolving tool and new cases will be added incrementally.
Want to offer feedback or suggest a case for inclusion in the Database? Contact our team
This initiative has been made possible with the support of UNHCR, the European Network on Statelessness, and Mallesons.
32 cases found
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A.M. (on behalf of M.K.A.H.) v. Switzerland
Date of decision: 22 September 2021
Region/country: Europe / Switzerland
Admissibility The Committee considered that the Applicant had sufficiently substantiated, for the purpose of admissibility, the complaints under Articles 3(1), 6(2), 7, 12, 16, 22, 27, 28, 37 and 39 UNCRC by which: (i) the State has not respected the best interests of the child nor heard the child at the time of the hearing of the asylum request and; (ii) the child runs a…
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Anudo Ochieng Anudo v United Republic of Tanzania
Date of decision: 22 March 2018
Region/country: Africa / Tanzania
The Court noted that the application invoked the violation of three fundamental rights (in addition to other incidental rights): (i) the rights under Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to nationality and not to be arbitrarily deprived of nationality; (ii) the right under Article 13 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (‘ICCPR’) not to be arbitrarily expelled; and (iii)…
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AS (Guinea) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
Date of decision: 12 October 2018
Region/country: Europe / United Kingdom
The Court determined that a person claiming to be stateless must provide evidence satisfying the standard of balance of probabilities and must apply for nationality as part of that evidence. It did not have to determine whether statelessness was relevant to the revocation of a deportation order because the appellant had not established that he was stateless. In its reasoning, the court held that the…
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Case of Expelled Dominicans and Haitians v. Dominican Republic
Date of decision: 28 August 2014
Region/country: Americas / Dominican Republic
The Court found that the State had violated the presumed victim’s rights under the Convention, and ordered the State to pay reparations and to take administrative and legislative actions to remediate the presumed victim’s situation and to ensure these violations did not re-occur. Obligation to Prevent Statelessness The Court considered that while States have the power to determine nationality, they must exercise it in accordance…
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Communication No. 1959/2010 (Warsame v Canada)
Date of decision: 01 September 2011
Region/country: Americas / Canada
The HRC (by a majority) found that deporting Warsame to Somalia would violate his rights under articles 6(1), 7, 12(4), 17 and 23(1) of the ICCPR: Articles 6(1) and 7 - due to the real risk of irreparable harm he would face (p. 16). Article 12(4) – the Committee determined that Canada was Warsame’s ‘own country’ due to his cultural, social and familial ties, and…
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Constitutional Court Decision 6/2015 (II. 25.)
Date of decision: 23 February 2015
Region/country: Europe / Hungary
The Constitutional Court had to decide whether Section 76(1) of the Third-Country Nationals Act was in accordance with the Fundamental Law of Hungary, in particular section Q(2) thereof, and therefore whether it was in line with the 1954 Convention. The Constitutional Court found the judicial initiative to be in part well-founded. It stated that the contested provision primarily affects stateless forced migrants who have never…
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D.Z. v Netherlands
Date of decision: 20 January 2021
Region/country: Europe / Netherlands
The Committee highlighted that, under Article 24(1), the primary consideration in decisions relating to a minor must be the best interests of the minor concerned as it forms an integral part of every child’s right to measures of protection. The Committee noted that, according to the UNHCR Guidelines on Statelessness No. 4, States must recognise an individual as not having the nationality of a State…
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Dabetić v. Italy
Date of decision: 18 October 2022
Region/country: Europe / Italy
The Court considered that it was not necessary to address the Government’s objection of non-exhaustion of domestic remedies, as the application was inadmissible in any event, for the following reasons. Referring to the case of Kuric and Others v. Slovenia (no. 26828/06), the Court observed that in the present case the Tribunal of Rome has recognised the Applicant’s status of a stateless person in 2013.…
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East African Asians v The United Kingdom
Date of decision: 14 December 1973
Region/country: Europe / United Kingdom
The Commission considered that the six applications brought by British protected persons must be distinguished from the 25 cases of CUKCs as British protected persons, according to English law, are not British subjects and remained subject to immigration control under the 1962 Act. The Commission held that the legislation was not discriminatory and did not constitute ‘degrading treatment’ under Article 3 in relation to British…
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Hoti v Croatia
Date of decision: 26 July 2018
Region/country: Europe / Croatia
The Court found that the Applicant's case did not concern an ‘erasure’ from residence registers, as the evidence showed he lacked a registered residence in Croatia at the time of independence. The Court noted that the Applicant’s case should be distinguished from cases concerning ‘settled migrants’, namely persons who had already been formally granted a right of residence in a host country and where a…
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This initiative has been made possible with the support of UNHCR, the European Network on Statelessness, and Mallesons.