THE PROBLEM OF STATELESSNESS IN UKRAINE AND THE WAYS OF ADDRESSING IT of Ukraine and for execution of decisions made10” requires the person to confirm continuous residence in the territory of Ukraine for 3 years, but does not indicate which bodies are responsible for issuance of such confirmations. Lack of a designated body responsible on this issue substantially slows down and complicates access to Ukrainian citizenship. If the refugee is stateless, the lengthy procedure will perpetuate his or her statelessness. Unfortunately, these examples are not isolated, and a considerable number of both laws and by-laws require immediate reform and effective implementation. The lack of implementation of the facilitated naturalization provision of the 1951 Convention into Ukraine’s national legislation, adversely affects Ukraine’s compliance with the commitments under the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, and infringes upon stateless persons’ human rights. The national law provisions on the regulation of the legal status of stateless persons, given as examples above, indicate the need for a more thorough comparative analysis of the provisions of the 1954 Convention and Ukraine’s national legislation on human rights. Practical problems within access to citizenship In addition to existing gaps in the legislation in relation to the protection of stateless persons, there are also practical problems that cause statelessness in Ukraine. When a person with an ex-USSR citizen passport lodges an application for admission to citizenship of Ukraine, he/she is often made obtain a national passport from the embassy of the state of previous residence even though, pursuant to article 1 of the Law of Ukraine on Immigration, the procedure to acquire Ukrainian citizenship must be conducted on the basis of the ex-USSR citizen passport. As to the persons with refugee status granted in Ukraine, when their application for admission to citizenship of Ukraine is examined, the legality of granting such status is often verified and sometimes challenged. Access to naturalization procedure by family members of Ukrainian citizens is also in practice constrained by extra-legal additional requirements of the authorities. When filing an application for admission to citizenship of Ukraine, a couple must prove the fact of cohabitation, which violates the provision of article 3 of the Family Code of Ukraine on free choice of the place of residence by the husband and wife. Another procedure not envisaged by the law, but widely used in practice is the examination by district police inspectors of social behavior of the applicants, who filed applications for admission to citizenship of Ukraine, at their place of 10 http://zakon2.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/196/92 13