The Karta Polaka was introduced in 2007 to strengthen ties between Poland and the Polish diaspora. This status grants access to education, healthcare, and business opportunities while facilitating citizenship application. This blogpost recaps its political origins, the requirements to acquire it, the rights it grans, and some statistics on take-up rates Read More …
On 16 October 2024, Italy passed a law that would make it illegal for couples to go abroad to have a baby through an international surrogacy arrangement. The law, approved by the senate with 84 votes in favour and 58 against, would make surrogacy a “universal crime” and could fine couples up to one million euros and a two-year jail sentence. Italian lawmakers have claimed that the law is not intended to harm children but to penalise parents who have engaged in this activity. Yet, since the practice of surrogacy became illegal domestically in 2004, couples have faced an increasing number of challenges when attempting to register their children at local municipalities – affecting these children’s ability to acquire Italian citizenship. Read More …
A new political party in Germany set up by supporters of Turkish president Erdoǧan has been met with a political backlash, though similar parties in Germany were previously unsuccessful. In this blog, we discuss the motivations and candidates of this party, parallels with parties in other EU countries, and its prospects in German politics in connection with a recent citizenship reform.
In this post, Bronwen Manby discusses the events leading up to the adoption of a draft protocol by the African Union on statelessness and the right to a nationality in Africa. The post also the key provisions of the protocol on the ‘specific aspects’ of statelessness and right to a nationality.
Constitutional challenges to the stripping of Australian citizenship have been both rare, and unsuccessful, but over the last 18 months the High Court has handed down three decisions in this space. This post examines 2 of the challenges that concerned revocation due to a dis-allegiance and explores the constitutional issues that arise from these decisions.
Ius soli is seen as an immigration pull factor on the French island of Mayotte. The French government wants to amend the Constitution to abolish territorial birthright citizenship in this territory. However, this proposed reform calls into question several constitutional principles, while the effects on migration flows are questionable.
This blogpost summarises the main changes to the German Citizenship Act, pointing out important changes to the original draft during the legislative process and discusses the political responses to the Act. It also places the current reform in the context of the reforms of German citizenship law since the early 1990s, showing how German citizenship law has been increasingly liberalised. Read More …
How much has the pandemic changed the governance of citizenship? Which ad hoc responses to the global health crisis have become embedded in ways states allocate rights and obligations to their citizens, and which ones have withered away? The pandemic has opened up a number of avenues to reflect on the meaning and underpinnings of citizenship. This blogpost illustrates how contemporary modes of governance of citizenship still correspond to old trends and traditional conceptions of citizenship.
Abdulrashid Solijoniv, Peter Wolf and Adhy Aman (International IDEA) Out-of-country voting (OCV) is not a novel practice. However, it has not necessarily kept up with the fast-paced cross-border mobility of people. Today, voters abroad may face many challenges: they may Read More …
This blogpost argues that the proposed reforms to the citizenship law in Switzerland constitute a paradigm shift in naturalization law, especially because they abandon most integration conditions. On the other hand, the reform would overhaul the locally administered Swiss naturalization system.
