Birthright Citizenship: Trends and Regulations in Europe

EUDO Citizenship Observatory Comparative Report No. RSCAS/EUDO-CIT-Comp. 2010/8

40 Pages Posted: 25 Nov 2010

See all articles by Maarten P. Vink

Maarten P. Vink

Maastricht University - Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences; European University Institute - Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS)

Gerard-René De Groot

Maastricht University - Faculty of Law

Date Written: November 25, 2010

Abstract

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Art. 15(1), states that everyone is entitled to a nationality. However the Universal Declaration does not indicate which conditions entitle a person to such a citizenship status. The fact that most, if not all, citizenship laws typically start with setting out the rules of attribution of citizenship at birth, and only later on in these documents specify rules concerning, for example, declaration and naturalization procedures, and loss of citizenship, signifies a hierarchy of importance. Birthright citizenship is the main allocation mechanism to ensure that everybody is a citizen of at least one state. Within the international state system, citizenship laws, and specifically the birthright provisions, function as a key classifying mechanism. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the rules across thirty-three European states on the acquisition of citizenship by virtue of birth, either by descent from a citizen or by birth at the territory of a state. The study also discusses trends during the last thirty years, going back to the early 1980s.

Keywords: Citizenship, Birthright, Migration, Comparative Law, Europe

Suggested Citation

Vink, Maarten P. and De Groot, Gerard-René, Birthright Citizenship: Trends and Regulations in Europe (November 25, 2010). EUDO Citizenship Observatory Comparative Report No. RSCAS/EUDO-CIT-Comp. 2010/8, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1714975

Maarten P. Vink (Contact Author)

Maastricht University - Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences ( email )

P.O. Box 616
Maastricht, 6200 MD
Netherlands

HOME PAGE: http://www.fdcw.unimaas.nl/staff/default.asp?id=215

European University Institute - Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS) ( email )

Villa La Fonte, via delle Fontanelle 18
50016 San Domenico di Fiesole
Florence, Florence 50014
Italy

Gerard-René De Groot

Maastricht University - Faculty of Law ( email )

P.O. Box 616
Maastricht, 6200
Netherlands

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