A/HRC/38/52 occupied an uncertain citizenship status. 77 British colonial forces conscripted many Nubians in the Sudan and deployed them to Kenya during the Second World War. At the end of the war, these Nubians were prohibited from repatriation and the colonial Government refused to acknowledge Nubians as citizens, instead classifying them as a foreign tribe. 78 This foreigner classification has continued to define Nubians in Kenya, despite many generations of Nubians living in Kenya, with no real ties to the Sudan. 79 To obtain the identity cards necessary to prove citizenship, Nubians must undergo long, complex and humiliating vetting processes without the guarantee they will be issued with the cards.80 This process effectively restricts Nubians from accessing citizenship at all in parts of East Africa. It was only in June 2017 that Kenya recognized the property rights of Nubians, following a decision of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.81 51. The Special Rapporteur notes with concern that the restrictive nationality laws in one State in the Middle East have left more than 100,000 people stateless. Although many of them have lived in the country for generations, they are considered “illegal residents” who continue to be denied equal access to social services, legally valid civil documentation, and due process in claiming citizenship.82 52. In some countries, former citizens of predecessor States continue to face barriers to the regularization of their status. According to UNHCR, there were more than 722,000 stateless persons with no or unclear citizenship status in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) area in 2015. The majority of them are former Soviet Union and Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia citizens.83 While many successor States have adopted measures to regularize the status of former citizens of predecessor States who now reside within their jurisdictions, to this day, thousands of people in successor States do not enjoy the rights and benefits of citizenship. 84 Although citizenship regulations in these countries do not formally discriminate against particular groups of non-citizens, historical circumstances often mean that persons belonging to ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected.85 In Latvia, more than 230,000 people remain so-called non-citizens, 99.5 per cent of whom belong to ethnic minorities.86 In this context, a former Special Rapporteur on racism 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 16 See CERD/C/KEN/CO/5-7, para. 27. Bronwen Manby, Struggles for Citizenship in Africa (New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), pp. 122–123. Samantha Balaton-Chrimes, “Indigeneity and Kenya’s Nubians: Seeking equality in difference or sameness?”, Journal of Modern African Studies, vol. 51, No. 2 (June 2013), pp. 338–339. Available at www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022278X13000049. See also Adam Hussein Adam, “Kenyan Nubians: standing up to statelessness”, Forced Migration Review, vol. 32 (April 2009). Available at www.fmreview.org/sites/fmr/files/FMRdownloads/en/ FMRpdfs/FMR32/19-20.pdf; African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa and Open Society Justice Initiative on behalf of Children of Nubian Descent in Kenya v. Kenya, decision No. 002/Com/002/2009 (2011). Available at www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/ACERWC-nubian-minors-decision20110322.pdf (finding that the treatment of children of Nubian descent in Kenya by the Government constituted a violation of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and a failure to protect their right to nationality). See Open Society Foundations, “Nubian community in Kenya v. Kenya”, 12 May 2017. Available at www.opensocietyfoundations.org/litigation/nubian-community-kenya-v-kenya. See Open Society Foundations, “After long struggle, Kenya’s Nubian minority secures land rights”, 5 June 2017. Available at www.opensocietyfoundations.org/press-releases/after-long-struggle-kenyasnubian-minority-secures-land-rights. See CERD/C/KWT/CO/21-24, paras. 27–28; CCPR/C/KWT/CO/3, paras. 10–11; Human Rights Watch, “Prisoners of the past: Kuwaiti Bidun and the burden of statelessness”, 13 June 2011. Available at www.hrw.org/report/2011/06/13/prisoners-past/kuwaiti-bidun-and-burden-statelessness. OSCE and UNCHR, “Handbook on statelessness in the OSCE area: international standards and good practices”, 2017, p. 9. Available at www.osce.org/handbook/statelessness-in-the-OSCE-area. Ibid. See, for example, A/HRC/7/19/Add.3, para. 77. See www.pmlp.gov.lv/lv/assets/documents/1aaaa/ISVN_Latvija_pec_TTB_VPD.pdf.