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.