ABSTRACT
The redrawing of international borders, the manipulation of political systems, and/or the denial or deprivation of nationality to exclude and marginalise racial, religious, or ethnic minorities have resulted in statelessness in every region of the world. 1 People who have legitimate claims to citizenship but cannot prove their citizenship, or whose governments refuse to recognise their nationality, are called de facto stateless. 2 Causes of statelessness include, but are not limited to, political upheaval, targeted discrimination (often for reasons of race or ethnicity), differences in laws between countries, laws relating to marriage and birth registration, expulsion of a people from a territory, nationality based on descent (usually that of the father), abandonment, and lack of means to register children. 3
