Human Rights And Statelessness I N P E N I N S U L AR M AL AYS I A 1.1 Research background Statelessness is a global human rights problem that affects millions of people today. The very existence of statelessness is said to be a reflection of failure by the State to fulfil the basic right to a nationality which is protected by Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Article 15 of the UDHR provides that “everyone has the right to a nationality” and that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality”. The 2014 Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) further establishes the definition of stateless people as “individuals who are not considered citizens or nationals under the operation of the laws of any country”. Stateless people face difficulties or find it impossible to access education, healthcare, employment, social security benefits, property rights, civil registration (births, deaths, marriages), identity cards, travel documents, and more. Furthermore, statelessness often results in marginalisation, discrimination, insecurity, and an overall sense of hopelessness, negatively impacting peoples’ lives. COVID-19 has further exacerbated issues faced by stateless people, as the relationship between citizenship and the physical location of the person became more salient. In a report published in June 2021 by the Institute of Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI) on the impact of COVID-19 on stateless people, it was revealed that for Malaysia: The lack of access to documentation and inability to acquire Malaysian legal identity has heightened the precarity of stateless persons and non-citizens during the pandemic. Non-citizen spouses and children continue to face barriers to entering Malaysia due to border closures and travel restrictions. Families with special circumstances have also not been allowed into the country, including families who lack financial resources, and those with family members with physical and mental disabilities. It is anticipated that there will be an increase in the number of children of Malaysian women without access to citizenship because of the inability of their mothers to return to Malaysia to give birth. Along with medical facilities being less accessible, civil registration offices have either closed or restricted services, making it much harder to register births. (ISI, 2021) 2