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Argument:

Philippines is not a signatory to the United Nations Convention on

Reduction of Statelessness held in 1961.

Discussion:

Under the United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) the

international legal denition of a stateless person is set out in Article 1 of the 195

Con!ention relating to the "tatus of "tateless #ersons$ %hich denes a stateless

person as &one %ho is not considered as a citi'en of a state under its la%& A

stateless person is someone %ho does not ha!e nationalit of an countr "ome

people are *orn stateless$ %hile others *ecome stateless o!er the course of their

li!es

+ne ma,or cause of statelessness is the e-istence of gaps in a countr.s legal

regime relating to nationalit /!er countr has its o%n statute %hich esta*lishes

under %hat circumstances one ac0uires nationalit or can ha!e it %ithdra%n f 

nationalit la%s are not carefull %ritten and correctl applied$ some people can *e

e-cluded and left stateless An age2old e-ample is children found in a countr %ho

are of un3no%n parentage (foundlings) f nationalit can onl *e ac0uired *ased on

descent from a national$ these children can *e left stateless 4ortunatel most

nationalit la%s a!oid this and recogni'e them as nationals of the state in %hich

the are found"tatelessness is sometimes referred to as an in!isi*le pro*lem

*ecause stateless people often remain unseen and unheard And this ma3es it hard

to sho% others ho% dicult their li!es can *e

 6he 195 Con!ention relating to the "tatus of "tateless #ersons and the 1971

Con!ention on the Reduction of "tatelessness are 3e legal instruments in the

protection of stateless persons around the %orld and in the pre!ention and

reduction of statelessness 8hile the are complemented * regional treat

standards and international human rights la%$ the t%o statelessness con!entions

are the onl glo*al con!entions of their 3ind

Article of Con!ention on the Reduction of "tateless #ersons held in August $

1971 declared that , “A foundling found in the territory of a Contracting

State shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be considered to have

been born within that territory of parents possessing the nationality of 

that State.”

Under the said con!ention$ a foundling %ill *e considered to ha!e *een *orn in the

territor %here such foundling %as located and is to *e considered as a national of 

that "tate

Con!ention and treaties among and *et%een states are generall *inding to those

%ho ha!e gi!en consent$ through ratication$ to the treaties *eing considered *

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the states 6hus if no consent %as gi!en$ that state cannot *e *ound to the treaties

it %as as3ed to sign to 6he #hilippines is not a signator of the said con!ntion As

reported * the United Nations (UN)$ onl the states of ;ominican Repu*lic$ 4rance$

srael$ Netherlands and United <ingdom %ere the signatories of 1971 Con!ention on

Reduction of "tatelessness %hich ma3es onl !e out of si-t four countries Not

*eing a signator state to the con!ention$ this means that the pro!ision em*odiedin the con!ention regarding foundlings is not *inding in the #hilippines =oreo!er$

such pro!ision of the con!ention cannot *e the *asis of conferring >race #oe a

natural2*orn citi'en for *eing a foundling

Although ther e-ists an e-ception to the stated rule a*o!e that states ma *e *ound

* a treat or a con!ention e!en if it is not a signator part to that said treat or

con!ention if the adoption of that la% has *ecome customar An international la%

*ecomes customar if such la% is part of the customar practice of ma,orit of the

states 6he custom must ha!e %idespread repetition * "tates of similar

international acts o!er time ("tate practice)? acts must occur out of sense of 

o*ligation (opinio ,uris)? and acts must *e ta3en * a signicant num*er of "tates

and not *e re,ected * a signicant num*er of "tates 6hus stated$ the presumption

on foundilings cannot *e said to *e customar +nl !e conformed to the adoption

of the pro!ision of the nternational @a% on foundlings Clearl$ such cannot *e

considered as a custom for it is *eing re,ected * a signicant num*er of "tates

%hich amounts to ft nine

+n the other hand$ assuming arguendo that such rule on foundlings ma *e

considered as a customar la%$ such cannot *e adopted * the #hilippines *ecause

adoption of such %ill contra!ene the 195 Constitution %hich is applica*le to the

case of >race #oe (6his %ill *e discussed * m *elo!ed groupmates)