WUNRN
Stateless Children - Girls - Under
the Radar & Under Protected - Rights
Direct Link to Full 16-Page 2012
Report:
There are an estimated six million stateless children around
the world1 – children
without a nationality who don’t belong to any country – whose lives are
insecure and futures uncertain. Many stateless children are denied access to
education and health care. They are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and
abuse, including being trafficked, forced into hazardous labour and sexual exploitation,
locked up alongside adults and deported.
Addressing statelessness is a vital step towards ensuring that millions of children can escape the cycle of marginalization and claim their rights to build better futures.Yet, despite these dangers and the risks that stateless children face, few international or national child protection systems include stateless children in their programming. This needs to change.
Nationality is a legal bond between an individual and a State. States normally grant nationality either through descent, whereby children acquire the nationality of their parents ( jus sanguinis), or through a child’s birth on a country’s territory ( jus soli). Most countries grant nationality by a combination of both birth and descent. A stateless person is someone who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law.
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