Law

Citizenship Law

a. Jus sanguinis and jus soli Provisions

The citizenship law of Pakistan, stipulated by The Pakistan Citizenship Act (1951), operates through both jus sanguinis and jus soli provisions. Jus sanguinis provisions provide that a child born outside of Pakistan to a Pakistani citizen by birth automatically acquires Pakistani citizenship, while those born to a citizen by descent must register the birth. There is no definition of a stateless person or statelessness in Pakistan’s citizenship legislation.

Pakistan’s jus soli provisions have been interpreted to provide citizenship to all children born on the territory of Pakistan, except those whose fathers have diplomatic immunity, or are enemies or aliens (despite the terminology used being “enemy aliens”). This interpretation has broadly limited the application of the jus soli provisions to exclude children born to foreigners (or ‘aliens’) in the territory. The provision has resulted in discretionary implementation of the jus soli provision which has excluded a number of groups from accessing citizenship by birth. However, recent court decisions have begun to address these implementation issues. A High Court ruling in 2022 and a Supreme Court decision in 2023 both ruled that all children born in Pakistan are entitled to Pakistani citizenship by birth. The High Court ruling in 2022 resulted from the hearing of the case of an Afghan refugee born in Pakistan who applied for citizenship in the Court. The Court ordered that the Afghan refugee be granted Pakistani citizenship and that only a birth certificate is needed to certify Pakistani citizenship. However, the implementation of this ruling is highly questionable due to lack of political will. The 2023 Supreme Court decision is discussed in further depth below.

b. Naturalized Citizenship

In order to be eligible for naturalization in Pakistan, the applicant must have resided in Pakistan for one year prior to application and during the 7 years before that one year, must have resided in the country for a total of four years, among other requirements. There is no simplified or expedited procedure available for stateless persons or refugees.

c. Dual Citizenship

Dual citizenship is generally not permitted in Pakistan. Pakistani citizens who acquire another citizenship renounce Pakistani citizenship. However, dual citizenship is permitted for 21 countries with which Pakistan has dual nationality agreements. Previously, Pakistani diaspora who had renounced their Pakistani citizenship in order to acquire citizenship of another country, and later Pakistan entered into a dual nationality agreement with that country, had no avenue to reacquire their Pakistani citizenship. With the enactment of the Pakistan Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (2022), Pakistani diaspora can now reacquire Pakistani citizenship in this scenario.

Treaty Ratification Status

Pakistan is a party to all five core human rights treaties (ICCPR, ICESCR, ICERD, CRC, and CEDAW) with no relevant reservations, but has yet to ratify the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, and the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol.

In 2017, the Human Rights Committee expressed concerns regarding Pakistan’s low birth registration rate, recommending the country to intensify its efforts to ensure all children are registered at birth. The same concerns were expressed in 2017 by the CESCR Committee and in 2016 by the CRC Committee. The CRC Committee recommended that Pakistan ensure the timely registration of births for all children, including those from marginalized groups who experience lower access to birth registration such as children born out of wedlock and refugee and internally displaced children. The Committee further recommended the country to remove fees required for birth registration, implement mobile registration units, and “ensure that children lacking identity documents are not refused access to education, health and public services”. As a party to CRC, Pakistan is responsible for ensuring that all births are registered immediately, that no child be left stateless, and that all children have the right to acquire a nationality.

With regards to Afghan refugees, the CESCR Committee also recommended that Pakistan allow unregistered Afghans to obtain legal residential status, investigate and bring justice to cases of police abuse against unregistered Afghans, and facilitate the protection of refugees, asylum seekers, and stateless persons through legislation and policy. The CRC Committee also expressed concern in 2016 regarding the lack of registration of refugee children in Pakistan which limits their access to education and leaves them vulnerable to abuse, trafficking, and religious radicalization. The CRC Committee was also concerned about children from Bengali, Bihari, and Rohingya communities who remain stateless and about the “lack of a legal framework for refugees and stateless persons”. Pakistan was recommended to adopt a national refugee law, ensure that all children born to refugees are registered at birth, include such children in national and provincial education systems, and “ensure the equal implementation of its citizenship laws to extend citizenship to Bengali, Bihari and Rohingya children”.

The CERD Committee highlighted the issue of lack of identity documents among Gypsies (Roma) in Pakistan, which has resulted in their lack of access to “employment, social protection benefits, health-care services, education and other public services”. The Committee further recommended that Pakistan provide information on the situation of this population in its next periodic report.

In its concluding observations in 2020, the CEDAW Committee expressed concern regarding the extra conditions placed on Pakistani women conferring citizenship to a foreign spouse compared to Pakistani men. The Committee recommended that Pakistan amend section 10 of the Citizenship Act to ensure gender equality in nationality laws, which Pakistan is obligated to under its ratification of CEDAW. It was further recommended that Pakistan accede to the Statelessness Conventions.

In a joint UPR submission made in 2023, the co-submitters also recommended that Pakistan accede to the Stateless Conventions, as well as amend section 10 of the Citizenship Act to ensure gender equality in nationality laws, expand the interpretation of Pakistan’s jus soli provision, and to ensure equal implementation of its citizenship laws to prevent statelessness among Bengali, Bihari, Rohingya and other stateless groups.

In 2020, UNHCR partnered with a national partner in Pakistan to implement UNHCR Pakistan’s Protection and Solutions Strategy 2019-2021. The Strategy was intended to implement interventions including improving access to services and rights by granting Pakistani citizenship, “sensitization of diverse stakeholders”, and advocating for Pakistan to accede to the Statelessness Conventions. These interventions included providing legal advice to affected individuals on how to acquire identity documentation. As a result, a significant number of people have been able to obtain identity documentation. However, Pakistan has yet to accede to the Statelessness Conventions.

Status of Accession of International Human Rights Treaties in South Asia

Country	Stateless 1	Stateless 2	Refugee	ICCPR	ICESCR	ICERD	CRC	CEDAW
Pakistan

Signifies that the country is a party to the convention

Stateless 1 – 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons

Signifies that the country is not a party to the convention

Stateless 2 – 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness

Population

1. Reported Stateless Persons

There is a lack of reliable statistics on the stateless population in Pakistan as estimates by government agencies vary widely. Pakistan reported a population of 55 stateless persons to UNHCR in 2022. Statelessness is prevalent among ethnic Bengalis, Afghan refugees, Urdu-speaking Biharis, and Rohingyas, with unofficial stateless population estimates contrasting greatly from the government-reported number at as high as 3 million people (comprising approximately 2 million ethnic Bengalis and as many as 1.4 million Afghan Refugees). Pakistan also hosts a large number of undocumented persons, of which many are stateless or at risk of statelessness.

Reported stateless persons to the UNHCR

Country	2019 (year start)	2020 (year end)	2021 (year end)	2022 (year end)
Pakistan	–	–	47	55

Source: UNHCR, Global Trends: Forced Displacement from 2019-2022.

2. Persons at Risk of Statelessness

The Hazara ethnic minority community in Pakistan has previously faced discrimination in receiving passports. However, in 2023, the Supreme Court, as a response to growing protest from the Hazara community ruled that all children born in Pakistan have the right to citizenship by birth. Previously, the Hazara community were required to get a signature from a member of the National Assembly in order to be issued a passport. Over 6 million people of the Hazara ethnic group reside in Pakistan. The Gypsy (Roma) community may also be at risk of statelessness in Pakistan due to lack of identity documentation and access to services.

3. Stateless Refugee

In 2021, Pakistan reported 47 stateless refugees to UNHCR. However, this figure sits far below reported estimates by independent bodies and journalists of between 55,000 and 500,000. A recent statement by a spokesperson for the Pakistani Foreign Office suggested that as many as 400,000 Rohingya refugees may be in Pakistan. A joint UPR submission for Pakistan highlighted that around 400,000 to 500,000 Rohingya refugees have been reported in the country. Much of the Rohingya population in Pakistan have been impacted by the separation of east and west Pakistan and the subsequent creation of Bangladesh.

Both Rohingya and Afghan refugees have been excluded from efforts to provide Pakistani citizenship to stateless persons. Afghan refugees in Pakistan have experienced harassment and discrimination as well as a lack of citizenship rights in Pakistan. As many Afghan refugees arrived in Pakistan decades ago, much of the population is experiencing intergenerational statelessness and have been born and raised in Pakistan. However, limited research is available on the current status of Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

4. Undetermined Nationalities

Bengali-speaking and Bihari communities hold an uncertain status in Pakistan, with limited information available on their citizenship status. The community largely consists of persons repatriated to Pakistan following Bangladeshi independence (and their descendants), some of whom hold passports and documentation, yet continue to face discrimination and exclusion. An estimated 3 million Bengali speakers are living in Pakistan, but 70-80% do not hold any identity documentation. The population had been provided with manual ID cards since 1973; however, in the process of digitization of civil registration in Pakistan, Bengali-speaking and Bihari individuals were registered as ‘aliens’. While registered as ‘aliens’, they are often denied citizenship under the previous interpretation of Pakistan’s jus soli provision. While the National Assembly has promised to provide legal status to this population by re-verifying blocked ID cards and eventually providing Computerized National Identity Cards, substantial action towards this promise is yet to be seen.

Causes of Statelessness

1. Discriminatory Nationality Laws

Pakistan’s jus soli provision stipulates that all children born in the territory will be citizens unless the father of the child has diplomatic immunity, or is an “enemy alien”, which is gender discriminatory as no such provisions exist stipulating the same for a child’s mother. Further, Pakistani women cannot confer citizenship to a foreign spouse on an equal basis as Pakistani men. In the situation of conferral of Pakistani citizenship from a Pakistani man to a foreign Afghan woman, the process is often lengthy and children involved in such situations often only gain citizenship if they do not have another citizenship.

2. Lack of Legal Safeguards Against Childhood Statelessness

It appears that the jus soli provision of Pakistani citizenship law would provide foundling children and children born to stateless parents access to citizenship; however, implementation of this law is less generous. Pakistan’s jus soli provisions on paper provide citizenship to all children born on the territory of Pakistan, except those whose fathers have diplomatic immunity or are enemy aliens. However, the children of Afghan refugees who have resided in Pakistan for decades have explicitly been excluded from the operation of these jus soli provisions, with the High Court of Pakistan explicitly labeling Afghan refugees as foreigners and aliens. As mentioned above, Bengali-speaking and Bihari individuals have also been registered as aliens and, as a result, denied citizenship by birth. This judicial interpretation has broadly limited the application of the jus soli provisions to exclude children born to foreigners (or ‘aliens’) in the territory.

3. Administrative Barriers

Discriminatory administrative barriers are largely the cause of statelessness among ethnic Bengali communities in Pakistan. Most ethnic Bengalis have resided in Pakistan since before the Bangladesh War of Independence in 1971 yet have never had their citizenship fully recognized, despite their right to citizenship existing under the written law. It is estimated that 70–80% of the Bengali population in Pakistan do not have identity documents. The position of ethnic Bengalis was worsened through the introduction of digitized ID cards, with the government discriminating and in some cases stripping persons of citizenship by replacing previously held paper identity documents with registration documents that labeled Bengali community members as ‘aliens’.

Balochistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas experience the lowest rates of birth registration. Lack of public awareness, complicated registration procedures, and high fees present barriers to birth registration. Children born out of wedlock and refugee and internally displaced children also experience low access to registration due to the lack of protective measures for the registration of children from such marginalized groups. Pakistan’s birth registration rate was reported as 42% in 2018.

Pakistan

Overview

Law