Summary

The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on minority issues was established by the Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 2005/79. It was subsequently extended by the Human Rights Council, most recently in its resolution 34/6.

In the present report, in addition to giving an overview of his activities, the Special Rapporteur tackles the issue of statelessness and explores why most of the world’s more than 10 million men, women and children who find themselves deprived of citizenship are persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities.

The Special Rapporteur presents the underlying causes and patterns that result in millions of minorities around the world losing or being denied citizenship out of all proportion. First, he investigates how and why certain minorities find themselves particularly affected, and even at times specifically targeted, by legislation, policies and practices contributing to or resulting in statelessness. Second, he describes the contexts and patterns that explain the disproportionate extent to which statelessness is experienced by persons belonging to minorities, and why this is at times directly linked to their affiliation to a minority group. Third, he identifies the contexts and patterns that involve breaches of international human rights obligations, in particular the international prohibition of discrimination.