AHU: Parents unilaterally changing a child's citizenship may violate the child's rights
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Director General of General Legal Administration (AHU) Widodo said that parents who unilaterally change their child’s citizenship status potentially violate the child’s right to choose their own citizenship without any coercion.
The statement was made by Widodo during a press conference at the AHU Directorate General building, Jakarta, on Thursday, in response to the polemic surrounding Dwi Sasetyaningtyas (DS), an alumnus of the Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan (LPDP) scholarship program, who is alleged to have changed her child’s citizenship to British.
“The child is still relatively young, not yet an adult. If we look at the lineage of birth and the parents, they are still Indonesian citizens, but the parents have changed or informed that the child is now a foreign citizen. This certainly violates the child’s right to protection,” said Widodo.
Based on information gathered by the Directorate General of AHU, DS and her husband are Indonesian citizens who studied for postgraduate degrees abroad with LPDP. Based on the principle of lineage, a child born from their marriage is automatically an Indonesian citizen.
According to Widodo, in principle, DS’s child is still an Indonesian citizen because the UK does not adhere to the ius soli system or automatic citizenship based on place of birth, so citizenship status is not automatically granted even if the child is born there.
However, DS’s child has the opportunity to choose their own citizenship if their parents become permanent residents in the UK. Widodo emphasized that this citizenship status must be chosen by the child themselves.
“When they live there for more than five years and become permanent residents, they have the potential to become citizens of another country, but according to regulations, automatically because their parents are Indonesian citizens, they are automatically Indonesian citizens,” he said.
Regarding DS’s controversial post that her child has a British passport, the Directorate General of AHU will confirm further. This is because DS has not coordinated with the Ministry of Law and Human Rights regarding her child’s citizenship.
“This certainly raises the question of whether the child was indeed born there, in the UK? While the UK is one of the countries that does not adhere to ius soli, which is based on place of birth,” he said.
The Directorate General of AHU will also communicate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the British Embassy regarding the citizenship status of DS’s child.
“Is this just a statement on social media, or is it an official legal decision regarding the status of the child?” said Widodo.