Brazil bill gives hope to Latin America's stateless - UNHCR

by Anastasia Moloney | Thomson Reuters Foundation

Tuesday, 23 August 2011 11:28 GMT

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If the bill is approved, stateless people in Brazil will have easier access to state services and jobs

This story is part of an AlertNet special report on statelessness

By Anastasia Moloney

BOGOTA (AlertNet) – A bill being drafted in Brazil to give more rights to stateless people in Latin America’s most populous nation could spur countries across the region to boost the rights of stateless people, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) has said.

If approved, the bill would make it easier to register stateless people living in Brazil – they would be allowed to get a Brazilian identification card, meaning easier access to state services and employment, and be eligible for a permanent visa after living in the country for four years.

Without citizenship, people are deprived of rights most people take for granted. Brazil is one of just 38 countries that have signed the 1961 U.N. Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, which aims to help the world’s 12-15 million stateless people.

The new bill would help Brazil put the Convention into practice, the country’s UNHCR representative, Andres Ramirez, told AlertNet in a telephone interview from the capital, Brasilia.

“At the moment there’s no mechanism as such in Brazil that establishes the procedure to determine nationality and citizenship,” Ramirez said. “The bill aims to address that gap, to help refugees or people with no nationality living in Brazil.”

Compared to other parts of the world, there are relatively few stateless people in Latin America as most countries in the region, like Brazil, grant automatic citizenship to all people born in their country.

Still, Brazil’s initiative could influence those Latin American countries where statelessness is a greater problem to tackle the issue.

In the Dominican Republic, for example, tens of thousands of children born on Dominican soil to illegal immigrants, many of whom are Haitian, are finding it almost impossible to get Dominican citizenship.

“Brazil’s taking the lead in the region,’ said UNHCR’s Ramirez. “It’s an important step forward taken by Brazil that could encourage and gain momentum for others to adopt the 1961 Convention and other conventions not only in the region but in other Portuguese speaking countries.”

“Brazil’s not a little island, Brazil’s weight is important,” added Ramirez, referring to the country’s growing economic stature on the world stage.

A SILENT PROBLEM

The proposed bill follows an earlier landmark reform adopted by Brazil that has helped reduce the number of stateless people in the country; four years ago, a change in Brazil’s constitution granted Brazilian nationality to children born abroad to a Brazilian parent.

Previously, Brazilian law required that children born to Brazilians living abroad had to live in Brazil in order to get citizenship. This meant that children who were of Brazilian parentage, but who were born in and lived in countries that denied citizenship to those born on their soil, were stateless.

It is estimated that the retroactive law allowed 200,000 children who were stateless, or at risk of being stateless, to become Brazilian nationals by registering at a Brazilian consulate anywhere in the world.

This case in Brazil shows how a tweak in constitutional law can have a significant impact in reducing the numbers of stateless people in a short time.

The constitutional reform was the result of a high-profile campaign led by a grassroots movement, “Little Stateless Brazilians” (Brasileirinhos Apátridas), set up by expatriate Brazilians.

Acquiring nationality through parents or because you were born in the country is the best way to prevent and reduce statelessness, said Ramirez.

“This is an exemplary case,” said Ramirez. “One of the main lessons learnt from the constitutional amendment is the importance of civil society mobilising and the media coverage to raise awareness about the problem of statelessness.”

Government attitudes towards statelessness also played a role.

“The other important lesson learnt here is that for Brazil, granting nationality to children born abroad to Brazilian parents was not considered a humanitarian issue but a benefit – they could come back and enrich Brazil,” said Ramirez.

But much still needs to be done worldwide to raise awareness of statelessness and to put pressure on governments to change laws, said Ramirez, adding that the issue is not high enough on political agendas.

“These people don’t vote, they’re not part of an important humanitarian crisis. It’s always a silent problem that falls between the cracks.”

(Editing by Rebekah Curtis)

Following is a list with all links related to the report.

MULTIMEDIA

VIDEO: Who is stateless? – Emma Batha and Alex Whiting, AlertNet

VIDEO: What is statelessness? – Aubrey Wade/Open Society Foundations

VIDEO: Stateless Nubians - Katy Migiro, AlertNet

VIDEO: Stateless Rohingyas - AlertNet

VIDEO: Stateless children in Sabah –Thin Lei Win, AlertNet

VIDEO: Stateless Dominicans – Jon Anderson, Open Society Foundations

GRAPHIC: Stateless people worldwide - Reuters

STORIES