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“All Citizens are Equal before Law and are Entitled to Equal Protection of Law”-Article 27 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh



Issue No: 187
April 30, 2005

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Law opinion

Nationality and citizenship: Some issues

Barrister Harun ur Rashid

The word "nationality" is often loosely used to mean "citizenship" under international law. However there remains a distinction between the two terms.

Many legal authors hold the view that the word "nationality" includes not only citizenship but also a person who, though not a citizen, has permanent connection to the state where that person is born. For example, if an Indian national acquires US citizenship, that person will be considered an Indian national by birth, (US citizen of Indian origin), although under Indian law, the person has to renounce Indian citizenship.

Strictly speaking, citizenship gives a person all political and civic rights, while nationality refers to the country of birth. Because of birth, a deep bond of culture, customs and language remains with the person throughout his whole life. Another difference is that attributes of nationality cannot be renounced because by birth the person acquires certain characteristics, say language, while citizenship can be lost or renounced.

For a Bangladeshi national, double citizenship has been allowed by amending the law (1951 Citizenship Act) in case of commonwealth countries since 1980 and a gazette notification lists the countries in which a Bangladesh national by birth can acquire foreign citizenship, without losing Bangladeshi citizenship. In other words a Bangladeshi- born British citizen may have two passports-one British and the other Bangladeshi. It is up to the person concerned to choose one of the passports for travel.

A person who acquires double citizenship, cannot, under the Bangladesh Constitution, become a MP or Adviser of the Caretaker government. (Articles 58C and 66 of the Constitution).

Citizenship of married women
Traditional laws provide automatic acquisition of husband's citizenship for married women. However the 1957 UN Convention on the Nationality of Married Women provides that state- parties to the Convention shall not deprive of the citizenship of birth or acquired citizenship otherwise of a state of married women. They are entitled to retain their citizenship of birth but may acquire husband's nationality if they choose to do so. This right of women to retain citizenship after marriage has been further strengthened by Article 9 of the 1979 UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

Statelessness of a person impermissible under international law
Under certain circumstances a person may lose citizenship. For example, citizenship can be lost by renunciation or by expiry of conditions of citizenship. However a person born in a country cannot be denied citizenship unless that person acquires citizenship of another state. This is because no person should become stateless. If that person commits treason or crimes, that person should face the court but must not be deprived of citizenship of the country of birth.

Under international law, this is not permissible because stateless persons have no protection from their states of birth in case of their need or security. The Hague Convention of 1930 adopted a special protocol concerning statelessness. It states that " if a person after entering a foreign territory loses the citizenship without acquiring another citizenship, the state whose citizenship the person last possessed is bound to admit that person at the request of the state in whose territory the person is".

The United Nations took also further initiative to codify the avoidance of statelessness of a person. There are two Conventionsone is the 1954 Convention Relating To the Status of Stateless Persons and the other is the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

The 1954 UN Convention defines the term stateless person as " a person who is not considered as a citizen by any state under the operation of its law" And Article 12 of the Convention states that "the personal status shall be governed by the law of the country of his domicile or if he has no domicile, by the law of the country of his residence."

The 1961 Convention states that a contracting state shall grant its citizenship to a person born in its territory who would otherwise be stateless. Article 8 of the 1961 Convention states that a contracting state shall not deprive a person its citizenship, if such deprivation would render him stateless. Furthermore the 1951 Convention on Refugees also does not approve a person being stateless.

Conclusion
Although grant of citizenship is regulated by domestic laws, the 1954 and the 1961 UN Conventions demonstrate that statelessness is a matter of international concern and lay down the norms of international law. Responsible states in international community cannot deprive of their citizens by birth stateless.

The author is former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.

 
 
 


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