THE HAGUE CONVENTION, APRIL 12 1930
PRIMARY CAUSE OF UNDOCUMENTED PAPERLESS BUREAUCRACY
AND STATELESSNESS
The Legal Framework
The focal point of the UPP worldwide Campaign is the CONVENTION ON CERTAIN QUESTIONS RELATING TO THE CONFLICT OF NATIONALITY LAWS, DONE in The Hague, 12April 1930.
The Preamble to the Convention
CONSIDERING that it is of importance to settle by international agreement
Questions relating to the conflict of nationality laws;
BEING CONVINCED that it is in the general interest of the international
Community to secure that all its members should recognise that every person should
have a nationality and should have one nationality only;
RECOGNISING accordingly that the ideal towards which the efforts of humanity
should be directed in this domain is the abolition of all cases both of statelessness and
of double nationality;
BEING OF OPINION that, under the economic and social conditions which at
present exist in the various countries, it is not possible to reach immediately a uniform
solution of all the abovementioned problems;
BEING DESIROUS, nevertheless, as a first step toward this great achievement, of
settling in a first attempt at progressive codification, those questions relating to the
conflict of nationality laws on which it is possible at the present time to reach
international agreement,
HAVE DECIDED to conclude a Convention and have for this purpose appointed as
their Plenipotentiaries:
Critique
The focal point of the UPP worldwide Campaign is the CONVENTION ON CERTAIN QUESTIONS RELATING TO THE CONFLICT OF NATIONALITY LAWS, DONE in The Hague, 12April 1930.
The Preamble to the Convention
CONSIDERING that it is of importance to settle by international agreement
Questions relating to the conflict of nationality laws;
BEING CONVINCED that it is in the general interest of the international
Community to secure that all its members should recognise that every person should
have a nationality and should have one nationality only;
RECOGNISING accordingly that the ideal towards which the efforts of humanity
should be directed in this domain is the abolition of all cases both of statelessness and
of double nationality;
BEING OF OPINION that, under the economic and social conditions which at
present exist in the various countries, it is not possible to reach immediately a uniform
solution of all the abovementioned problems;
BEING DESIROUS, nevertheless, as a first step toward this great achievement, of
settling in a first attempt at progressive codification, those questions relating to the
conflict of nationality laws on which it is possible at the present time to reach
international agreement,
HAVE DECIDED to conclude a Convention and have for this purpose appointed as
their Plenipotentiaries:
Critique
A first step which has lasted 80 years reduces makes a mockery of human ingenuity and human capacity to reason out issues and causes that impact on the human situation.
The economic and social conditions which existed 80 years ago in the various countries of the world, no longer hold any meaning or purpose in 2010
Notwithstanding the Convention's desire to abolish statelessness across Continents, the undocumented paperless people, the ones who are stateless, have reached a staggering figure of two hundred millions
Source of English Law doctrine of "Conclusive Competency"
The phrase that often comes up when talking to civil servants in the Ministry of Justice and Home Office as well as when talking to lawyers on both sides of the Bar, is "the issue of a person's nationality is conclusively to be determined by the Courts"
That "conclusive competency" doctrine is based on The Hague Convention, at Article 2
"Any question as to whether a person possesses the nationality of a particular State hall be determined in accordance with the law of that State".
But what happens where the Court is not entirely independent of the Executive arm of the State or where the Judiciary of a nation state surrounds itself with an aura of invincibility; or where some statutes make it impossible for citizens to have access to the courts and justice? These conditions apply under the English legal system.
Research after research by the UN has attributed responsibility for the ever growing number of undocumented paperless people to the British Nationality Acts, immigration rules, and regulations.
The UK Parliament has a habit of making laws only to repeal them a few years down the road but then, the consequences of those laws live on well after they have been repealed.
Other focal points
The economic and social conditions which existed 80 years ago in the various countries of the world, no longer hold any meaning or purpose in 2010
Notwithstanding the Convention's desire to abolish statelessness across Continents, the undocumented paperless people, the ones who are stateless, have reached a staggering figure of two hundred millions
Source of English Law doctrine of "Conclusive Competency"
The phrase that often comes up when talking to civil servants in the Ministry of Justice and Home Office as well as when talking to lawyers on both sides of the Bar, is "the issue of a person's nationality is conclusively to be determined by the Courts"
That "conclusive competency" doctrine is based on The Hague Convention, at Article 2
"Any question as to whether a person possesses the nationality of a particular State hall be determined in accordance with the law of that State".
But what happens where the Court is not entirely independent of the Executive arm of the State or where the Judiciary of a nation state surrounds itself with an aura of invincibility; or where some statutes make it impossible for citizens to have access to the courts and justice? These conditions apply under the English legal system.
Research after research by the UN has attributed responsibility for the ever growing number of undocumented paperless people to the British Nationality Acts, immigration rules, and regulations.
The UK Parliament has a habit of making laws only to repeal them a few years down the road but then, the consequences of those laws live on well after they have been repealed.
Other focal points
Other focal points of the Campaign include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948 and other specific Conventions relating to statelessness, asylum seeking, multiple nationality, acquisition and loss of nationality, and other relevant Conventions
Measures to combat UPP bureaucracy
Partnership with NGOs
Establishment of Consultative Relations with the United Nations pursuant to ECOSOC Resolutions 1996/31
Engagement with
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs [OCHA],
Division for Social Policy and Developmentublic Information
Development Programme [UNDP]
UNESCO
Partnership with NGOs
Andre John-Salakov
Public Law Centre
Partnership with NGOs
Establishment of Consultative Relations with the United Nations pursuant to ECOSOC Resolutions 1996/31
Engagement with
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs [OCHA],
Division for Social Policy and Developmentublic Information
Development Programme [UNDP]
UNESCO
Partnership with NGOs
Andre John-Salakov
Public Law Centre
19 February 2010
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Undocumented Paperless People worldwide Campaign is being promoted by Andre John-Salakov, Founder of the CSO, Public Law Centre [NEWPLC]