An amendment to a proposed international agreement concerning the legal status of stateless persons, outlawing any country’s deprivation of nationality to any person on the basis of racial or religious discrimination, was suggested here by the World Jewish Congress today.
The WJC made its suggestion in a memorandum to the second United Nations Conference on Statelessness, which convened yesterday. The purpose of the conference, being attended by representatives of 29 states, including Israel, is to attempt to complete work on an international agreement drawn up by the International Law Commission in 1954.
The WJC pointed out in its memorandum that some countries deprive persons of their nationality on racial or religious grounds, proposing that such practices be termed “not permissible” in the draft agreement. The Congress cited the United Arab Republic as one country practicing such discrimination, pointing out that U.A.R. law provides for the possibility of depriving any UAR citizen of his nationality if “he has been known at any time as a Zionist.” According to the WJC, “it is rather obvious that this provision is directed against the Jewish minority as such.”
The draft convention on statelessness, adopted by the International Law Commission in 1954 has, to date, been ratified by only eight countries, Israel, Britain and France are among the states that have ratified the convention, but the United States has so far not adhered to the proposed international instrument. The U.S.A., like Israel, is represented at the conference that opened today.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
