This blog examines the legal framework underpinning this regime, still in force today, and assesses its interaction with contemporary Dutch and European legal norms

In 1975, hundreds of thousands of Dutch citizens were involuntarily denationalised following Suriname’s independence, as Dutch nationality law reassigned citizenship en masse

Fifty years of Surinamese independence and the ongoing effects of the mass loss of Dutch citizenship - Globalcit In 1975 hundreds of thousands of Dutch citizens involuntarily lost their citizenship overnight. They were assigned the citizenship of the newly independent Suriname. This blog sheds light on the law e...

New Blog by Katya Swider ✨

Fifty years of Surinamese independence and the ongoing effects of the mass loss of Dutch citizenship 🇳🇱🇸🇷

📖 tinyurl.com/bejnz4d7

Of Interest: Botswana 🇧🇼 Burkina Faso 🇧🇫 Burundi 🇧🇮 Central African Republic 🇨🇫 Chad 🇹🇩 Comoros 🇰🇲 Republic of the Congo 🇨🇬 Djibouti 🇩🇯 Eritrea 🇪🇷 Equatorial Guinea 🇬🇶 Gabon 🇬🇦 Guinea-Conakry 🇬🇳 Lesotho 🇱🇸 Liberia 🇱🇷 Mauritania 🇲🇷 Mauritius 🇲🇺 São Tomé and Príncipe 🇸🇹 Niger 🇳🇪 Seychelles 🇸🇨 Somalia 🇸🇴 South Sudan 🇸🇸

Seeking Africa Country Experts 🌍❗📣

We are seeking contributors to help maintain and update the world's leading open-access database on citizenship law and electoral rights ⚖️📚

📆 Deadline: May 15
👇 Full details

Interim Syrian Government and the Legacy of Kurdish Statelessness – Finally Resolution and Justice? - Globalcit With hundreds of thousands of Syrian Kurds having been deprived of citizenship since the 1960s, recent acknowledgement of their suffering by the current Syrian authorities is welcome. The context in w...

New Blog Alert ⏰

Is the new Syrian government finally delivering justice? Thomas McGee takes a critical look at Decree No. 13 and what it means for Kurdish rights

Is this meaningful redress, or another tactical concession to a long-marginalised community❓

📑 tinyurl.com/2ja4jhz3

Join the April GLOBALCIT Seminar ✨

Thomas McGee with present: Theorising post-colonial legal politics: Performative farce (maskhara) in Syria's nationality law🇸🇾

📆 April 16 ⏰ 12:00 CET 📍 Sala Belvedere, Villa Schifanoia

🔗 globalgovernanceprogramme.eui.eu/events/?id=5...

If you are interested in understanding more about Syrian Nationality Law, make sure to join us on April 16th, when Thomas McGee will present:

Theorising post-colonial legal politics: Performative farce (maskhara) in Syria's nationality law 🇸🇾

🔗 globalgovernanceprogramme.eui.eu/events/?id=5...

Citizenship in the News 📰🇸🇾

Denied for decades, Syria’s stateless Kurds edge towards recognition: Stateless Kurds in Syria are applying for citizenship under the Presidential Decree No. 13 of 2026 that formally restores their eligibility for legal recognition

syriadirect.org/denied-for-d...

Pleased this is finally published: survey of developments in international law on nationality & statelessness updating @peterspiro.bsky.social 's 2011 survey @ajil.bsky.social & responding to more recent articles by Neha Jain & Michelle Foster & Timnah Rachel Baker www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Citizenship in the News 📰🇿🇦

Cabinet approves changes to South Africa’s immigration and citizenship laws following the revised White Paper: “This is really going to change the way we do things in our country,” says Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber

www.ewn.co.za/2026/04/09/c...

In Ghana Town, a ‘stateless’ future for hundreds born and raised in Gambia In a small Gambian village founded decades ago by Ghanaian fishermen, their descendants languish without ID documents.

@aljazeera.com story on small community of #stateless people of Ghanaian descent living in Gambia - previously granted ID cards, now taken away www.aljazeera.com/features/202...

Including comments by our Co-Director @maartenpvink.bsky.social

Citizenship in the News 📰🇬🇦

See these threads for commentary on the new Gabon Nationality Code 👇

In the Birthright Citizenship Hearing, a Story of Asians Fighting for Rights

Citizenship in the News 📰🇺🇸

In the Birthright Citizenship Hearing, a Story of Asians Fighting for Rights: In the Supreme Court’s oral arguments, lawyers and justices cited a litany of cases reflecting how long it took for Asians to win the right to be American

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/u...

For more commentary on the Supreme Court hearing, see these threads 👇

Trump’s Absurd Citizenship Arguments Went Nowhere The scandal is that the case got this far.

Citizenship in the News 📰🇺🇸

Supreme Court begins oral arguments on birthright citizenship, with Donald Trump in Courtroom: Justices overwhelmingly appeared dismissive of Sauer’s legal arguments

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Update from Amy Qin

One of the speakers outside the Supreme Court today was Norman Wong, 76, the direct descendant of Wong Kim Ark, the Chinatown cook who was behind the 1898 case that affirmed birthright citizenship for all.

Glad to see good use of our @globalcit.bsky.social data on the regulation of birthright citizenship around the world 🌎

US-style automatic birthright citizenship generally applicable regardless of parents’ legal status is very common throughout the Americas, but uncommon elsewhere.

Configurations of citizenship governance: membership asymmetries in times of crisis What happens to citizenship governance when states must decide whom they will protect during a crisis? This article highlights the highly variegated and context-specific nature of citizenship gover...

What is citizenship in times of crisis?

In a new #OpenAccess article with @jdzankic.bsky.social and @ashleymhollands.bsky.social, we analyse data from 204 countries & territories during COVID-19

1/4🧵

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Trump suggests he will attend birthright citizenship arguments at Supreme Court The president floated a visit as he jawbones the justices to end automatic citizenship for those born on U.S. soil.

Citizenship in the News 📰🇺🇸

Trump suggests he will attend birthright citizenship arguments at Supreme Court on Wednesday on his Executive Order: The presence of a sitting president during oral arguments would be a first

www.politico.com/news/2026/03...

Birthright citizenship is not common in countries outside the US | Pew Research Center 32 other countries around the world have birthright citizenship laws that are substantially similar to the U.S. Another 50 or so countries have more limited variations of birthright citizenship.

Citizenship in the News 📰

U.S.-style birthright citizenship is uncommon around the world 🇺🇸

New Pew Research Center article drawing on our Globalcit Dataset ✨️

www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

Entries close tomorrow 🚨🚨

There is still time to take part in this year's edition 🏆

Full Details 👇

globalcit.eu/2026-rainer-...

Japan to tighten requirements for naturalization starting April 1 The criteria for foreign nationals seeking citizenship will be brought to the level required for permanent residency.

Citizenship in the News 📰🇯🇵

Japan to tighten requirements for naturalization starting April 1: Japan will double the residency requirement for foreign nationals seeking citizenship, changes announced less than a week before taking effect

www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/03...

Congrats! The e-version of your book made it to our library catalogue in Florence, so our whole @globalcit.bsky.social group @eui-eu.bsky.social has access to it. Looking forward to reading it and learning from your great work.

Thanks for having me over in Brussels, @ecas-europe.bsky.social for this engaging discussion on developments in citizenship acquisition and nationality law across the EU, drawing on our data and research from @globalcit.bsky.social.

@eui-schuman.bsky.social @eui-ggp.bsky.social

Italy's Constitutional Court Upholds Caps on Citizenship by Descent - IMI Daily Court rejects constitutional challenges to Italy's citizenship-by-descent reform on four separate grounds.

Italy’s Constitutional Court Upholds Caps on Citizenship by Descent www.imidaily.com/europe/italy...

Citizenship in the News 📰🇷🇸🇷🇺

Serbia Begins Issuing Passports to Russians Left Stateless After Renouncing Citizenship: These individuals had been stuck in a legal "gray zone" for several years, living without official documents or a clear legal status

united24media.com/latest-news/...

Join us today in-person at Schifanoia ☀️

Lunch will follow the seminar 🍴🍝

Africa’s new treaty on statelessness and the right to a nationality: How to make it work? YouTube video by GlobalGovernanceProgramme EUI

Watch the @globalcit.bsky.social webinar from a few weeks ago with @chidiodinkalu.bsky.social Ibrahima Kane, Thandeka Chauke, Christy Chitengu & myself discussing the protocol to the #ACHPR on the specific aspects of the right to a nationality and the eradication of #statelessness in Africa