Statelessness is an amorphous concept. What and who constitutes “stateless people” is unclear and unquantifiable. Foundationally, it simply encompasses those who have no legal affiliation to any country (nationality). Such status essentially excludes a person from social integration by creating a barrier to accessing education, healthcare, work, and perhaps most profoundly, a dignified official burial upon death. While the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates 4.4 million peop

In Canada, foreign nationals who want to stay in the country can make applications for permanent residence under the humanitarian and compassionate stream, if there are compelling circumstances in their case. These circumstances include, for example, mental and physical health challenges, concerns over family violence, hardship in their country of origin, and the best interests of any children involved. H&C applications fill an important gap in the immigration system, because

The Potential Impact of the Nationality and Borders Bill on Women Trafficked to the UK (Metin Ozer, published 11th December 2019, downloaded from Unsplash, https://unsplash.com/photos/spFYbCSF-Ec [24/03/22]) Content Warning: discussion of human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and rape. The Nationality and Borders Bill will disadvantage victims of trafficking, especially female victims who face gender-specific difficulties. Clause 58 ignores the victim’s need for time to pr

The UK government signed the Istanbul Convention eight years ago, but has not yet ratified it. Using the government’s own reports on progress towards ratification, the post explains key areas in which the government is still not compliant with the Convention. The forthcoming Domestic Abuse Bill should bring the UK into compliance with Article 44, which relates to extra-territorial jurisdiction. However, the issue of support for migrant women leaves the UK still in non-compl

COVID19 cost a lot of people, a lot of things except their fundamental human rights. Urbane citizens have had no telling crises for the procurement of grain and food, rather India has seen a surge in tendencies to overstock rations in middle-class and upper-class households. India, in stark contrast has seen the migrant workers’ human rights in the blues. Grim scenes of apathetic conditions, lack of basic resources and no shelter have been etched in the conscience of a grievi

As the clocks ticked forward into the new decade, UN officials could be forgiven for feeling burdened by the goals targeted in the upcoming years. Few human rights goals have been as ambitious as that to end statelessness by 2024, with 12 million people remaining without a legal nationality. Whilst instability in the Middle East and climate threats in the Sahel have been by now ‘factored in,’ it is in South Asia where such efforts appearing to be irrevocably floundering.

In the wake of the horrific deaths of 39 Vietnamese nationals whose bodies were found in a lorry in Essex in October and the human trafficking charges pressed on the suspects, it is timely to consider the legal responses to human trafficking. Whilst trafficking has clearly been established as a crime domestically (s.2, Modern Slavery Act 2015) and internationally (UN Palermo Protocol, within the Organized Crime Convention), the human rights framework for human trafficking is

Although it is all too easy to believe that slavery ended with the success of the abolitionist movement up to 200 years ago, a flurry of news stories in recent weeks has brought the issue of modern day slavery to our attention. Significant coverage stemmed from the high-profile Rooney case, where a UK family was convicted of numerous counts of modern slavery offences. This was swiftly followed by the first review of the UK legislation in a Backbench Business Committee debate

To me, the main way that society has changed in terms of the past thousand years of human development is transportation. We have gone from living in small communes, unlikely to ever leave, to being able to reach the other side of the world in under 24 hours. People now can choose to live their lives miles away from their place of birth and indeed frequently do. What is the position however if the individual gets into trouble with the ‘host state’ and tries to send them back t