‘Terrorist’ citizens and the human right to nationality

Citizenship deprivation – the power of the state to take away citizenship against the wishes of the individual concerned – is gaining momentum among policy-makers and scholars. This interest is linked with changes introduced by a number of European states with a view to make it easier to take away citizenship from persons engaged in terrorist activities (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom). This article focuses on two such countries, the United Kingdom and France, which have changed their nationality legislations to make it easier to take away citizenship because it is deemed conducive to the public good (UK) or because the person concerned was convicted of a terrorist offence (France). Changes to citizenship deprivation powers were justified by national security concerns involving citizens engaged in terrorist activities at home and, increasingly, abroad. While home-grown terrorists and foreign ‘terrorist’ fighters pose a threat to national security, the use of nationality legislation to deal with them as security threats encroaches upon their human right to nationality. The British and French cases illustrate how far states can go in the exercise of citizenship deprivation powers, and to what extent human rights standards limit state powers of deprivation.