Australia - Suspected terrorists to lose dual citizenship

Australia is set to revoke the citizenship of dual passport holders who are foreign fighters or suspected of terrorism.

Already, dual passport holders cease to be Australian citizens if they serve in the armed forces of a country Australia is at war with, as do their dependent children aged under 18, provided it doesn’t contravene international obligations and render them stateless.

The immigration minister can also revoke a dual citizen’s Australian citizenship if it continuing is “contrary to the public interest”.

In 66 years of these provisions, they’ve never before been used by an Australian Government.

There are further international obligations, according to UN Security Council Resolution 1373, where Australia has to “prevent the movement of terrorists and terrorist groups by effective border controls and controls on issuance of identity papers and travel documents.”

The Federal Government has cancelled the passports of 70 Australians who were suspected of planning to fight with the terrorist organisation ISIS.

The Citizenship Act also prohibits approval of a citizenship applicant who is assessed by ASIO as a risk to the security of Australia, or who has been convicted of certain serious criminal offences.

Dual citizenship is “deeply problematic”, and raises “divided loyalties”. The 2002 legislation that granted freedoms in dual citizenship “should be reconsidered” as it made foreign fighters harder to track, as well as clouded citizenry obligations to fight for Australia in time of war, particularly if conscription was instigated by the Governor-General.

Dual citizenship is not a human right. Its permission in Australia since 2002 does not render it anything like traditional.