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FYROM, the Philippines and Moldova in autumn 2011, as well as a CentralEuropean delegation of UNHCR in December 2012, including state officials
from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Fur
thermore, within the course of 2011, Hungarian government experts have been
invited to expert roundtables in Romania, Turkmenistan, Georgia and the
UNHCR’s Bureau for Europe in Brussels (and some more invitations are to come
to Slovenia and Slovakia in autumn 2013). Tangible results of these study visits
and expert consultations can be measured. For instance, the United Kingdom
has just recently adopted changes to its Immigration Act, which introduced a
statelessness determination procedure as of April 2013; Moldova has acceded to
both UN conventions and put in place a statelessness determination procedure;
Georgia has become party to the 1954 UN Convention and the Philippines has
also established a statelessness determination procedure etc.26
3
Concrete Policy Actions and Initiatives – Universal Level
On the universal level, it is worth mentioning that at the December 2011
UNHCR Ministerial Conference, celebrating the Agency’s 60th and the 1961 UN
Convention’s 50th anniversary, Hungary made some statelessness related
pledges. These were threefold: firstly, to continue the promotion of the two UN
Conventions relating to the status of stateless persons and on the reduction of
statelessness, and since Hungary has gathered significant knowledge and
expertise in this field, to share these best practices and experiences with all
interested states in the framework of seminars or study visits. Secondly, to
withdraw the declaration made to Articles 23 and 24 of the 1954 UN Convention,
thus ensuring the full enjoyment of the rights contained in those Articles
(access to public relief, labor legislation and social security) to all stateless persons recognized by Hungary. And finally, to develop a quality evaluation and
development mechanism in statelessness determination.27
All these pledges have been implemented since then. The declaration to
Articles 23 and 24 of the 1954 UN Convention was withdrawn as of 3 July 2012.28
26
27
28
UNHCR <www.unhcr.org/pages/4ff2bdff6.htm> accessed 15 September 2013.
UNHCR, ‘Pledges 2011: Ministerial Intergovernmental Event on Refugees and Stateless
Persons (Geneva, Palais des Nations, 7-8 December 2011)’ (2012) <www.unhcr.org/
commemorations/Pledges2011-preview-compilation-analysis.pdf> accessed 15 September
2013.
Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (n 2)<www.treaties.un.org/pages/
ViewDetailsII.aspx?&src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=V~3&chapter=5&Temp=mtdsg2
&lang=en#12> accessed on 15 September 2013.
tilburg law review 19 (2014) 194-202