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CONSTANTINO amboi T. BALLENA

February 20, 2015

Written Report for Public International Law

NATIONALITY AND STATELESSNESS

ON NATIONALITY (Cruz, 2000: pp. 182-189)
A. Nationality and Citizenship Distinguished
An individual:

A mere object and not a subject of international law.

Not directly governed by the rules of international law both in the

enjoyment of rights and performance of duties.

An individual can participate in international relations only through the

instrumentality of the state to which he belongs
1. Nationality:
Binds and individual to his state, from which he can claim protection and
whose laws he is obliged to obey.
A membership in a political community with all its related rights and
obligations.
2. Citizenship:
More exclusive scope: applies only to certain members of the state
accorded more privileges than the rest of the people who owe it
allegiance.
E.g.: Filipinos and Americans as nationals of the US. But Filipinos were
not entitled to American citizenship rights for purposes of the
administration of the parent state such as right to vote for public office.
B. Acquisition of Nationality
1. Modes of acquiring Nationality
a. Jus soli (English pronunciation: /ds sola/) (Latin: right of
the soil)
the right of anyone born in the territory of a state to nationality or
citizenship.

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Acquiring nationality based on the state where an individual is born.

As an unconditional basis for citizenship, it is the predominant rule in
the Americas, but is rare elsewhere.
b. Jus sanguinis (Latin: right of blood)
a principle of nationality law by which citizenship is not determined
by place of birth but by having one or both parents who are citizens
of the state.
Acquiring nationality based on the nationality of his parents..
2. Forms of Naturalization
Naturalization: a process by which a foreigner acquires, voluntarily
or by operation of law, the nationality of another state.
a. Direct
Is effected by:
Individual proceedings, usually judicial, under general naturalization
laws;
Special act of the legislature, often in favor of distinguished
foreigners who have rendered some notable service to the local
state.
Collective change of nationality (naturalization en masse) as a result
of cession (surrender) or subjugation; and
In some cases, adoption of orphan minors as nationals of the state
where they are born.
b. Derivative
Is conferred on:
The wife of a naturalized husband;
The minor children of the naturalized parents; and
The alien woman upon marriage to a national.
CAVEAT: Derivative naturalization does not always follow as a matter of course,
for it is usually subject to stringent restrictions and conditions.
Example: an alien woman married to a Filipino shall acquire her
citizenship only if she herself might be lawfully naturalized.

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C. Multiple Nationality
May be due to the concurrent application to an individual of the municipal
laws of the states claiming him as their national.
Example: A child born in the US of Filipino parents would be an American
citizen by operation of law (jus soli) and at the same time a Filipino citizen by
jus sanguinis as recognized by the Philippine Constitution.

D. Loss of Nationality
Modes of Losing Nationality
1. Voluntary
Renunciation (expressed or implied)
Request for release
NOTA BENE: Both voluntary methods precede the acquisition of a new
nationality.
2. Involuntary
Forfeiture as a result of some disqualification or prohibited act like
enlistment in a foreign army or long continued residence in a foreign state;
and
Substitution of one nationality for another following a change of
sovereignty or any act conferring derivative naturalization.

E. Conflict of Nationality Laws: Hague Convention of 1930 on the Conflict of

Nationality Laws
1. Article 1: It is for each State to determine under its own law who are its
nationals.
2. Article 2: Any question as to whether a person possesses the nationality of a
particular State shall be determined in accordance with the law of that State.

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3. Article 3: Subject to the provisions of the present Convention, a person having

two or more nationalities may be regarded as its national by each of the
States whose nationality he possesses.
4. Article 4: A State may not afford diplomatic protection to one of its nationals
against a State whose nationality such person also possesses. (Japan placed
reservation on this article).
5. Article 5: Within a third State, a person having more than one nationality shall
be treated as if he had only one.
6. Article 6: Without prejudice to the liberty of a State to accord wider rights to
renounce its nationality, a person possessing two nationalities acquired
without any voluntary act on his part may renounce one of them with the
authorisation of the State whose nationality he desires to surrender.
APPLICATION: When a person possesses both Philippine and American nationality, his
claim to Philippine nationality shall be decided on the basis alone of
Philippine law, to the exclusion of other laws (and vice versa)
ON STATELESSNESS (Cruz, 2000: pp. 189-191)
A. Statelessness Defined
The condition or status of an individual who:

Is born without any nationality; or

Loses nationality without retaining or acquiring another

Born without nationality: a child born in a state where only jus sanguinis is
recognized to parents whose state observes only jus solis.
Losing nationality without retaining or acquiring another: after renouncing his
original nationality in order to be naturalized in another state, he is
subsequently denaturalized and is thereafter denied repatriation by his
former country.

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B. Effect of Statelessness
The individual is powerless to assert any right that should have been
available to him were he a national of a particular state.
Any wrong suffered by a stateless person through the act or omission of a
state of a state would be Damnum Absque Injuria.
C. The Doctrine of Damnum Absque Injuria
A loss, damages or injury suffered from which there is no legal cause of
action.
Loss, hurt, or harm without injury in the legal sense, that is, without such an
invasion of rights as is redressible by an action (Black's Law Dictionary).
Applied to International Law: no state had been offended and no
international delinquency is committed as a result of the damage caused
upon a stateless person.

D. Rules Laid Down in Hague Convention of 1930

Naturalization case:
the wife and the children retain their existing nationality if they are not also
naturalized, and
the wife will acquire her husbands nationality, if permitted, only with her
own consent.
The adopted childs existing nationality is retained if he does not acquire the
adopters nationality.
Other cases: Children shall have the nationality of the state of their birth
whenever their parents are
1. Unknown;
2. Stateless or of unknown nationality; or
3. A father who is stateless or of unknown nationality and a mother who is
a national of the state where they are born.

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E. Rights of Stateless Individuals Stipulated in Covenant Relating to the

Status of Stateless Persons (1954)
Right to religion and religious instruction
Access to court
Elementary education
Public relief and assistance and rationing of products in short supply
F. Universal Declaration of Human Rights: stateless individuals enjoy protection
and sympathy as members of the human family.