Deprivation of Citizenship

Measures depriving citizens of nationality on security grounds are being used with increasing frequency across developed countries.  A key concern of the global trend is that states will continue to cherry pick from among the most draconian policies being introduced in other jurisdictions. Such measures ultimately increase the risk of rendering people stateless and in many cases will amount to arbitrary deprivation of nationality.

The Australian Government has recently proposed two pieces of legislation that reflect this global trend. The Centre has made two parliamentary submissions in response to these proposals, and is engaged more generally in investigating the international and human rights law implications of citizenship deprivation as a counterterrorism tool, especially when those measures increase the risk of rendering people stateless. To this end, Centre staff participated in a UNHCR expert meeting on deprivation of nationality in Geneva (December 2018), the outcomes of which will contribute to UNHCR Guidelines on loss and deprivation of nationality.

• Submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security in relation to its Review of the Australian Citizenship renunciation by conduct and cessation provisions. August 2019. View PDF
• Submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security in relation to the Counter-Terrorism (Temporary Exclusion Orders Bill). March 2019. View PDF
• Submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, in relation to its inquiry into the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Strengthening the Citizenship Loss Provisions) Bill 2018. January 2019. View PDF