The Hidden Child: Analyzing the Cyclical Nature of Statelessness and Violations of Reproductive Autonomy

Authors

Simone Lieban Levine
Kelsey J. Peden

Abstract

Statelessness is a reproductive justice issue. When states explicitly or implicitly regulate or restrict reproduction, it results in children being born into statelessness. When there is a risk that a child will be born into statelessness, it both impacts the parents’ ability to parent with dignity and can have a chilling effect on the parents’ decision to have a child in the first place. In this way, statelessness results both in and from violations of reproductive autonomy. To combat statelessness, the international human rights community must use a reproductive justice lens to examine the ways that policies related to regulating nationality result in reproductive oppression. And, to combat reproductive oppression, the international human rights legal community must reckon with the national and international policies (and lack thereof) that cause statelessness. This paper aims to begin this process by examining statelessness through a reproductive justice framework, in particular the ways that national laws related to reproductive decision-making (including child limitation, surrogacy, and marriage regulations) result in statelessness and create reproductive oppression.

Recommended Citation

Levine, Simone Lieban and Peden, Kelsey J. (2021) "The Hidden Child: Analyzing the Cyclical Nature of Statelessness and Violations of Reproductive Autonomy," The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development: Vol. 6: Iss. 2, Article 3.
Available at: https://scholarworks.arcadia.edu/agsjournal/vol6/iss2/3