In many countries of the world, entire communities have been denied citizenship or been stripped of their citizenship, only because of their race or national descent. In most of these cases, deprivation of nationality has been applied to minority groups who have been living in the country for generations, rendering them stateless without even crossing an international border.

State sanctioned discriminatory citizenship practices are not a new phenomenon. Nationality being primarily about sovereignty, history is punctuated with various instances during which minorities have been discriminated against on the basis of their ethnicity, religion or language. With the birth of the nation-state, the codification of nationality became an important element in the construction of states.

This webinar will illustrate with instances from the past when states have denationalised specific groups, share learning from recent cases, and reaffirm international human rights instruments and customary law promoting equal rights and non-discrimination.

Moderator:

• Rev. Dr Hans Ucko, Church of Sweden

Speakers:

• Prof. Fernand de Varennes, UN special rapporteur on Minorities
• Sam Mosallai, UNHCR
• Amal DeChickera, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion

Register here to join the webinar live, Thursday 24 March, 2 pm CET