Lecture: Stateless Persons (by Elsza Ayu Fitrishiana, UNCHR)

April 3rd, 2014 - Ms. Elsza Ayu Fitrishiana, Officer at the UNHCR Regional Representation in China, gave a lecture on stateless persons. 

Stateless person is a special kind of refugee. The 1954 Convention Relating to the Statues of Stateless persons defines a stateless person as "a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law". 

Ms. Fitrishiana brought up a point that the last few words of this definitions demonstrate that the convention protect stateless persons only de jure (in law), but not de facto (in fact). Her other point is that the State, which is a precondition for nationality, must be defined by its territory, people, sovereignity, government and international recognition.

As Ms. Fitrishiana said,  the total number of global stateless persons estimated by the UNHCR reaches up to 10 million. But only 3.5 million recorded stateless persons get protection via registration procedure in 64 states. 

The UNHCR identifies stateless persons through its refugee identification procedure, while cooperating with many states to prevent, reduce and protect stateless persons.

Written by MA Jiexin, Proofread by LIU Yang.