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.
100 cases found
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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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Cour de cassation de Belgique [Court of Cassation of Belgium] No C.19.0197.F
Date of decision: 08 April 2022
Region/country: Europe / Belgium
The Belgian Court of Cassation allowed the appeal. It set aside the judgment of the Liège Court of Appeal of 8 February 2019 and held that the Liège Court of Appeal had violated Article 23 of the Judicial Code by disregarding the authority of res judicata attached to the 2013 judgment that recognised MA as stateless. By stating that MA's recognition as stateless did not…
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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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DGLR and Another vs. Minister of Home Affairs and Others
Date of decision: 06 September 2016
Region/country: Africa / South Africa
The Department decided to withdraw the appeal and agreed to an order issued by the Supreme Court of Appeal, confirming the original High Court Order. The Supreme Court reaffirmed the need to make regulations in relation to Section 2(2) of the Citizenship Act.
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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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Emin Huseynov v Azerbaijan (No. 2)
Date of decision: 13 July 2023
Region/country: Europe / Azerbaijan
The Court found that there had been an arbitrary revocation of the Applicant’s citizenship, violating Article 8 of the Convention. The Court began their analysis by emphasising that they must follow a ‘consequence-based approach’, looking at what the consequences of the measure were for the Applicant, and whether the measure in question was arbitrary (see Usmanov v Russia). Here, the Court noted that the Applicant…
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F.B. et al and D.A. et al. v France
Date of decision: 08 February 2022
Region/country: Europe; Middle East; North Africa / France
Admissibility The Committee noted that some children had been repatriated to France and that for this reason communication No. 77/2019 was moot and that its consideration should be discontinued insofar as it related to the State Party’s failure to repatriate those children. The Committee found some of the authors’ claims to be inadmissible under article 7(f) of the Optional Protocol, but that the authors’ claims…
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G.T.B. v Spain
Date of decision: 16 November 2023
Region/country: Europe / Spain
Legal Classification of Complaints The European Court of Human Rights (‘the Court’) acknowledged that ill-treatment in breach of Article 3 of the Convention requires a minimum level of severity. In the present case, the Court had not received evidence to meet the threshold required by Article 3, so examined the case under Article 8. In addition, the Court recognised that the right to respect for…
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This initiative has been made possible with the support of UNHCR, the European Network on Statelessness, and Mallesons.