Statelessness

Also called: Stateless people, Stateless persons · Topic: Citizenship: Idea and Indian Law · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 6 "Citizenship"

Meaning

Statelessness is the condition of a person whom no state accepts as its citizen, so that person has no country to claim rights from. It matters because rights such as work, schooling and owning property usually come through citizenship. A stateless person can therefore live for generations without any of them.

Explanation

How a person becomes stateless

• People are forced to leave home.
• War, persecution (cruel treatment because of who you are or what you believe) and famine still push people across borders.

• Examples in NCERT: people from Darfur (Sudan), Palestinians, the Burmese, Bangladeshis, and migrants smuggled into Europe and America.

• Every state limits who can be a member.

• Each state makes its own rules about who may become a citizen.

• States use their power to keep unwanted people out. Some build walls and fences.

• No state accepts them.

• When the old state will not take them back and the new state will not make them citizens, they become stateless.

What life looks like for a stateless person

• They live in camps or as illegal migrants.
• They cannot legally work, send their children to school or own property.
• The condition can last for generations. In India, many people who came in have stayed stateless for generations, and few have become citizens.
• The scale of displacement: at the end of 2024, 123.2 million people worldwide had been forced from their homes. Of these, 73.5 million were displaced inside their own country and 42.7 million were refugees who had crossed a border [7].
• 73% of refugees live in low- and middle-income countries [7].

The international legal framework

Instrument	Year	Role
Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons	1954	Sets basic protections for stateless people
Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness	1961	Asks states to prevent and reduce statelessness
1951 Refugee Convention + 1967 Protocol	1951 / 1967	Cover refugees, not statelessness as such

• UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) is the UN agency that protects both refugees and stateless people.
• The UN General Assembly set it up in 1950.
• It won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1954 and 1981.
• It publishes the yearly Global Trends report [7].

Limits: why statelessness clashes with democratic ideals

• Universal citizenship is a democratic ideal. It says that everyone who lives and works in a country should be able to become a full member of it.
• Statelessness shows where this ideal fails. A person can live and work in a place all their life and still belong nowhere.
• Global citizenship (the idea that people owe something to others beyond their own nation) may help with cross-border problems. But NCERT holds that it adds to national citizenship and cannot replace it. Rights still come mainly from national governments.

In the Constitution and practice

• Citizenship law: Part II of the Constitution (Arts. 5–11) and the Citizenship Act 1955 decide who is an Indian citizen. Anyone outside these rules is legally a "foreigner".
• No treaty, no refugee law:
• India is party to none of the 1951 Convention, the 1967 Protocol, or the 1954 and 1961 statelessness conventions [5].

• India has no national refugee law and decides each group's case separately.

• Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 (Act No. 13 of 2025) [2]

• It replaced four laws: the Passport (Entry into India) Act 1920, the Registration of Foreigners Act 1939, the Foreigners Act 1946 and the Immigration (Carriers' Liability) Act 2000 (Section 36) [2][3].
• It was passed by the Lok Sabha on 27 March 2025 and the Rajya Sabha on 2 April 2025 [3]. It came into force on 1 September 2025 [4].
• Section 7: the Centre may ban, regulate or restrict a foreigner's entry into India, exit from India or stay in India [2].
• Section 16 (burden of proof): if there is a question about whether a person is a foreigner, that person must prove they are not one [2]. This is hard for someone with no papers from any state.
• Section 29: the Centre may order a foreigner removed from India [2].
• Section 33: the Centre may exempt any person or class of persons from the Act [2]. This is the legal route for special treatment of groups such as Tibetans.
• Entering India without a valid passport or visa can bring up to 5 years' jail, a fine of up to ₹5 lakh, or both [3].

• The word "refugee" does not appear anywhere in the Act [2].

• Constitutional protection for stateless people:

• Art. 14 (equality before the law) and Art. 21 (no one can lose life or personal liberty except by a procedure set by law) protect all persons, citizens or not [5].

• Art. 19(1)(e) (the right to live and settle anywhere in India) is for citizens only [5].

• Key cases and instances:

• Tibetans (1959): the Dalai Lama and his followers were given shelter. The Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy 2014 gives them welfare and other benefits.
• Sri Lankan Tamils: many live in camps in Tamil Nadu.
• NHRC v. State of Arunachal Pradesh (1996): this case was about the Chakmas. The Supreme Court held that Art. 21 protects non-citizens too and ordered the state to protect them from threats of forced eviction.
• Rohingya:
  • On 8 August 2017, the Home Ministry asked states to identify illegal migrants [5].
  • On 18 August 2017, the NHRC (National Human Rights Commission) sent the Ministry a notice about reports that it planned to deport Rohingya [6].
• Mohammad Salimullah v. Union of India (order of 8 April 2021) [5]
  • The petitioners' case: non-refoulement (not sending a person back to a place where their life or freedom is in danger) is part of Art. 21 [5].
  • The Court's view (Arts. 14 and 21): these articles protect all persons [5].
  • The Court's view (deportation): the right not to be deported comes with the right under Art. 19(1)(e), which belongs only to citizens [5].
  • The Court's view (Art. 51(c)): the Court doubted whether Art. 51(c) could apply to a treaty India has not joined. (Art. 51(c) is a Directive Principle, a guideline for the state, that asks it to respect international law.) [5]
  • Result: no interim relief (no temporary order to stop the deportation while the case went on). The detainees could be deported after the procedure set for deportation was followed [5].

Don't confuse with

• Refugee: a refugee is forced to flee by war, persecution or famine and cannot safely go home. A refugee usually still has a nationality. A stateless person has no state that accepts them as a citizen. A person can be both.
• Internally displaced person: they are forced from home but stay inside their own country (73.5 million at the end of 2024 [7]). They are still citizens, so they are not stateless.
• Illegal migrant / "foreigner" (Indian law): these are categories in domestic law under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025. A stateless person in India is treated legally as a foreigner, because Indian law has no separate status for them.
• Global citizenship: this is a moral idea of belonging beyond borders. It gives no legal nationality and cannot fix statelessness alone.

Prelims Hooks

• Statelessness is covered by the 1954 (status) and 1961 (reduction) conventions, not the 1951 Refugee Convention.
• India is party to none of the 1951, 1967, 1954 and 1961 instruments [5].
• UNHCR protects both refugees and stateless people. The UN General Assembly set it up in 1950, and it won the Nobel Peace Prize twice (1954, 1981).
• Arts. 14 and 21 protect all persons. Art. 19(1)(e) is for citizens only. In Salimullah (2021), the Court linked the right not to be deported to Art. 19(1)(e) [5].
• NHRC v. State of Arunachal Pradesh (1996): Chakmas. Art. 21 protects non-citizens.
• Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025: Section 16 puts the burden of proof on the person, and Section 33 allows exemptions. The Act never uses the word "refugee" [2].

Mains Points

• Statelessness weakens universal citizenship.
• People who live in India for generations without legal identity cannot work, study or own property.

• This goes against the democratic idea that those who live and work in a country should be able to belong to it.

• Case-by-case policy versus a national law.

• Tibetans and Sri Lankan Tamils get help, while Rohingya face detention and deportation.
• A national law would give clear status and protect against arbitrary action (Art. 14). It would also put the courts' Art. 21 rulings into law.

• The government replies that porous borders (borders that are easy to cross unchecked) create security risks [5]. It also points to population pressure in border states and the need to keep foreign-policy options open.

• Middle path.

• India could screen refugees and give them temporary protection, and share the burden with other states through regional bodies.
• Global citizenship efforts such as UNESCO's GCED under SDG target 4.7 [8] and vasudhaiva kutumbakam can help. But rights are still delivered mainly by nation-states.

Related concepts

• Universal citizenship
• Refugee
• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
• 1951 Refugee Convention
• Non-refoulement
• Global citizenship
• Global Citizenship Education

Read more

• Refugees, stateless people and global citizenship