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“The winner takes it all”. The perils of requiring Israel to grant citizenship to Palestinian residents of the Occupied Territories

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Ariel Zemach suggests that Israel is required, under IHRL, to grant citizenship to residents of territories of the West Bank that were annexed to Israel. I would like to highlight three difficulties that arise from this argument: its contribution to the entrenchment of the settlements as a permanent reality, its dire implications for self-determination, in the substantive sense, of the Palestinian people, and its presumption that the granting of citizenship would result in adhering to IHRL obligations, in particular with respect to equality, towards Palestinian citizens of Israel.

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The case of Chisuse and Others versus Department of Home Affairs (CC:155/19)

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In South Africa an amended Citizenship Act has left some born outside of the country to a South African parent without access to citizenship. This is despite having a vested right to citizenship under previous legislation. The Constitutional Court recently heard a case seeking to confirm a High Court order to ‘read in’ to the legislation to rectify this seemingly inadvertent deprivation. But the Department of Home Affairs argues such deprivation is intentional and justified.

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Why we need a Year of Action against citizenship stripping’

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Concerned about the growing instrumentalisation of nationality and deterioration of the institution of citizenship, the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion presents two new resources to learn about more about the practice of citizenship stripping and relevant international standards which limit state power to do so: the World’s Stateless 2020 – Deprivation of Nationality; and the Principles on Deprivation of Nationality as a National Security Measure.

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