Keynote Speech of Barbara von Rütte

On 21th October 2024, following the Annual General Assembly, a SNyMS Member Barbara von Rütte will deliver an open to public presentation entitled The Right to Have Rights? The Right to Citizenship in a Migration Context.''

Barbara von Rütte indicates that the existence of an enforceable right to citizenship is often disputed. States regularly oppose the adoption of concrete rights in the domain of nationality, arguing that membership in the nation state falls within states’ domaine réservé. This is despite the fact that the right to citizenship – or nationality – has been enshrined in Article 15 UDHR and is addressed in all major human rights treaties. States have been successful in rejecting concrete obligations, namely in a migration context where individuals concerned might not be stateless, but lack an effective nationality. In particular, the right to access citizenship in a specific state is rejected with the argument that the…