| Who is Stateless?
• Any person who is not considered a citizen under the operation
of the laws of any State. Formal citizenship of a state allows one
to participate in the political, economic and cultural life of one’s
country on an equal footing with all other citizens. Many amenities
are provided by the state (and various levels of government). Without
citizenship one cannot lay claim to any of those amenities nor can
one go to another source to obtain the same services.
• Citizenship of a State is so fundamental
to the need of all persons that it has been enshrined in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. All States that are members of the
United Nations Organization agree to follow the declaration. The
convention on the rights of the child also states that every child
is entitled upon birth to a minimum of two things first a name and
then a nationality. Pakistan and Bangladesh both are signatories
to both of these conventions.
• No one is guaranteed anything in life. Every
one of us must struggle and make a life for ourselves as best as
we can with what we have. What is so objectionable, when trapped
in circumstances of Statelessness is those afflicted with it, are
not able to break away from it by their own efforts alone. At worst
Statelessness is akin to slavery, at best it is like being an illegal
alien, except the illegal aliens can always return to their country
but stateless have no country. Like the most important things in
life it is difficult to appreciate the importance of citizenship
until one loses it, and then it is too late.
• General paraphrasing of the rules that govern
citizenship in most countries might help. All governments have framed
rules as to who is a citizen and who is not. The individual must
himself or herself determine who he or she is. This is termed as
the right of self-determination. Based on domicile, shared language
and culture, bonds of kinship or religion everyone has the right
to identify with one or more countries as their country of citizenship.
• When a new state is created all of the inhabitants
in the territory of the new state become the citizens of the new
state unless they choose otherwise implicitly or explicitly. A citizen
has the right to enter or leave his country. Citizens may rescind
their citizenship at any time with out assigning any reason. However
a state cannot deprive a citizen of his nationality without notice,
and without due process of law. Further a state cannot deprive a
group of their citizenship unless the state files a case against
each individual of a violation of law, which is punishable by denial
of nationality. Suppose you were an American guilty of murder, you
may get the death penalty or life in prison depending on the circumstances
of your case, but you most certainly can not be stripped of your
nationality.
• If a newborn child was found in a country,
and the name and nationality of the parents of the baby was unknown,
then she must be accorded the citizenship of the country where she
was found. Even if you were to renounce your nationality you will
not lose it, until you have acquired another nationality. One does
not lose one’s nationality on account of have been away too
long. Contrary to beliefs in some cultures or countries one’s
domicile is one’s country of habitual residence and is not
attached in any manner shape or form to a local language, region,
village, city or place of birth, race, religion or ownership of
land or property.
• You may personally dislike certain groups
of individuals on grounds of language, religion what have you, however
the state must not deny anyone’s nationality on any basis
except that they have violated the terms of the nationality law.
One group in society may feel hard done by another group. This cannot
be the basis of denial of nationality either. In this case the grievances
of each group should be addressed but not at the expense of the
rights of another group of individuals.
• Suppose Sindhis feel that Urdu speaking
have usurped their rights or have caused them pain or suffering.
In that case such claims should be investigated, circumstances causing
this outcome may be altered in the present, and must not be allowed
to reoccur in the future, some compensatory measures may be required
to restore balance and justice in the availability of opportunities
for all citizens. The one thing law cannot do and must not do is
to punish members of a group with in its citizenry based on a common
characteristic such as religion, language, age, income etc. Law
can be used only to punish persons, that is you and I or legal persons
such as corporations, societies or their officers.
• Statelessness is indeed an affliction as
bad as slavery and must be wiped from the face of the earth. At
least two important conventions exist regarding Statelessness and
following are the titles:
Convention
on the Status of Stateless persons.
Conventions on the Reduction
of Statelessness.
Please review both these conventions because they are important
to citizen’s rights. We have highlighted the sections violated
by Bangladesh and Pakistan.
• Through out the history many governments
have used exile or arbitrary deprivation of nationality as a tool
to exclude unpopular and often innocent minorities of language,
color, religion or political opinion. If you want your world to
be a world of laws then you must join us in opposing the abuse of
laws by any country including Bangladesh and Pakistan. If justice
isn’t done to others it won’t be done to us. |
