4.13.4. Improving the situation of stateless persons

In 2022, the ENS continued to organise the Stateless Journeys Campaign, an initiative which has developed different tools to support people working with stateless persons, such as guidelines to encourage frontline practitioners to “recognise, record, refer and read up”. Guidelines are currently available on several topics, including children’s right to a nationality, asylum registration and screening, detention and return, family reunification and integration.1046 

In Belgium, the NGO NANSEN produced several reports to inform stateless persons and their legal representatives. The reports are available in French on their website and cover topics such as: the treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the need to grant them international protection,1047 the right to Belgian nationality for children of Palestinian origin,1048 statelessness among members of the Bidoun community in Kuwait and their need for protection,1049 and how to prevent the children of Ukrainian refugees in Belgium from becoming stateless.1050

In Bulgaria, the Foundation for Access to Rights organised an online webinar entitled “Palestinian Refugees Seeking Protection in Bulgaria: Practical issues and recent case law” in September 2022. The organisation also produced a report on practical problems in the international protection system in Bulgaria and the application of Article 1(D) of the 1951 Convention.1051

In the Netherlands, Asylos implemented a project to address information gaps for stateless persons. The organisation also worked on the production of a COI report on the situation of stateless Palestinians in Lebanon and a principles document for conducting COI research on statelessness.1052

In France, OFPRA updated the welcome booklet in November 2022 aimed at newly-recognised stateless persons.1053 In Malta, the aditus foundation published a document with a number of proposals in view of the upcoming 2022 national elections. These included recommendations for a new stateless determination procedure.1054

In March 2022, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights issued concluding observations on the third periodic report on Czechia. The committee expressed its concern that, under the Aliens Act, the scope of the statelessness determination procedure is limited and it does not provide sufficient legal security for stateless persons. It was also concerned that such persons face difficulties in obtaining permanent residence, and under the Citizenship Act, children who would otherwise be stateless would only acquire nationality if both parents are stateless and at least one of them has a residence permit (Article 2(2)).1055 Following up on the committee’s recommendations, relevant legislative amendments were prepared to the Aliens Act, which are expected to come into force in the second half of 2023.

In May 2022, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued its concluding observations on the combined eighteenth to twentieth periodic reports on Luxembourg. The committee noted the absence of specific legislation on statelessness, including on the statelessness determination procedure, and recommended that the authorities consider the adoption of specific legislation.1056 The UNHRC issued its concluding observations on the fourth periodic report on Luxembourg and encouraged the government to adopt legislation regulating the procedure to determine the status of statelessness and that clearly guarantees the right to stay for applicants with a statelessness status and that this right is automatically granted after obtaining the stateless status.1057