I’m not defending her, in fact I find her actions completely repellent, but Shamima Begum is walking proof that the UK has and will readily make a UK national stateless if it wants to do so, AND defend that legal position indefinitely throughout as many international tribunals as it takes.
Born in the UK, traveling on UK documents, and ostensibly holding UK citizenship, Ms. Begum went to Syria in 2015 to fight for ISIS. As a response to her requests to return to the UK when she got to the FO part of FAFO, the UK home office removed her UK citizenship in 2019 and are fighting her efforts to get it back even now, five years later. Just two days ago she lost another court battle to get her UK citizenship back.
While citizenship in the UK is not based on place of birth (jus soli), the government of Bangladesh holds that she does not and has never had Bangladeshi citizenship via jus sanguinis. The UK courts decided that she was a Bangladeshi citizen from birth, but that doesn’t make it so except in UK law. There is no actual citizenship for her in Bangladesh. For the purposes of winning in court, the UK is simply creating a legal illusion of citizenship for her in Bangladesh where one does not exist, and so far it’s working for them. There is no alternate citizenship in reality.
Ergo, Ms. Begum is, in fact, rendered stateless by the actions of the UK. This condition is 100% the legal creation of the UK as its own response to her reprehensible actions, and has nothing at all to do with Ms. Begum’s place of her birth or her lineage.
Bangladesh says she is not a citizen of Bangladesh. The UK says she is not a citizen of the UK. She does not have any right or claim to citizenship in any other country or territory.
I’m not defending her, in fact I find her actions completely repellent, but Shamima Begum is walking proof that the UK has and will readily make a UK national stateless if it wants to do so, AND defend that legal position indefinitely throughout as many international tribunals as it takes.
Born in the UK, traveling on UK documents, and ostensibly holding UK citizenship, Ms. Begum went to Syria in 2015 to fight for ISIS. As a response to her requests to return to the UK when she got to the FO part of FAFO, the UK home office removed her UK citizenship in 2019 and are fighting her efforts to get it back even now, five years later. Just two days ago she lost another court battle to get her UK citizenship back.
While citizenship in the UK is not based on place of birth (jus soli), the government of Bangladesh holds that she does not and has never had Bangladeshi citizenship via jus sanguinis. The UK courts decided that she was a Bangladeshi citizen from birth, but that doesn’t make it so except in UK law. There is no actual citizenship for her in Bangladesh. For the purposes of winning in court, the UK is simply creating a legal illusion of citizenship for her in Bangladesh where one does not exist, and so far it’s working for them. There is no alternate citizenship in reality.
Ergo, Ms. Begum is, in fact, rendered stateless by the actions of the UK. This condition is 100% the legal creation of the UK as its own response to her reprehensible actions, and has nothing at all to do with Ms. Begum’s place of her birth or her lineage.
Bangladesh says she is not a citizen of Bangladesh. The UK says she is not a citizen of the UK. She does not have any right or claim to citizenship in any other country or territory.
Ms. Begum’s situation is, literally, the exact definition of statelessness: