Tag Archives: nationality

Mark Valladares

The Shamima Begum case – why liberals should be defending her rights, if not her freedom

By Mark Valladares | Mon 1st March 2021 - 4:17 pm

I ought to start by expressing the view that, regardless of what Shamima Begum has, or has not, done, I have little sympathy for her. And, for all the suggestions that she was groomed, or that she was too young to understand what she was doing, Liberal Democrat policy is to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to fourteen from its current level of ten years of age. If she has committed an offence punishable under law, then she should be tried and, if found guilty, sentenced appropriately.

But the Government are arguing something rather different. They suggest that her citizenship can be taken away from her because she is “a bad person” and a threat to national security. That may be true, but the United Kingdom is also a signatory to the 1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

Article 8 of the 1961 Convention outlines how and when a State may withdraw nationality, opening with the sentence;

A Contracting State shall not deprive a person of its nationality if such deprivation would render him stateless.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 27 Comments
Advert



Recent Comments

  • Mark ValladaresMark Valladares
    @ Callum, As a newly-elected member of your Region's Candidates Committee, I take cautious note of your comments. And yes, Regional Parties can often do more...
  • Margaret
    For what it's worth, very few seat selections were seriously held up last time around because of a shortage of returning officers. The much bigger problem was t...
  • John Walller
    Having been to Greenland, I agree with you, Tom, when you say: ‘the indigenous Innuits respect for their environment and the daily lifestyle of the 57,000 Gre...
  • Peter Davies
    The one part I find a little complacent is the bit that deals with people who couldn't get to target seats "The party ran a very effective telephone campaigning...
  • David Allen
    Dear me Mick Taylor. We don't need a pact. We need a united party to oppose the MAGA threat. Utopian? Well, if the alternative is a fascist world, don't we ...