196 Molnár part of Hungarian law; they have been incorporated in a piece of national ­legislation into the Hungarian corpus iuris, due to the country’s dualist-­ transformation model concerning the relationship between international law (international treaties) and domestic law.7 All this relays a firm foreign policy message. It shows to the outside world Hungary’s strong commitment to protecting stateless people and preventing or avoiding any future cases, as well as reducing their existing number. Being party to all these international instruments means that Hungary can no longer modify her internal rules unilaterally. Besides that, Hungary has also improved domestic legislation in order to better implement these international obligations. As an outstanding example, as of 1 July 2007, Hungary established a completely new statelessness determination procedure (SDP)8 and it is now only one of a few countries in the European Union (EU)9 that has such a self-standing, comprehensive procedure established by law: with guarantees comparable to the refugee status determination procedure, fulfilling the specific needs of this vulnerable group. As the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Guidelines on Statelessness No. 2 emphasizes: ‘recognition of statelessness plays an important role in enhancing respect for the human rights of stateless persons, particularly through access to a secure legal status and enjoyment of rights afforded to stateless persons under the 1954 Convention.’10 Roughly, a dozen states all over the world have procedures in place to identify stateless persons in their territory, which is a first step to protection. The Hungarian statelessness determination procedure, warmly welcomed by UNHCR, has been in the international spotlight in recent years, mainly due to the sophisticated and in many aspects protection-oriented legal regime it established. For more than 7 8 9 10 For more see e.g. Tamás Molnár, ‘The Relationship of International Law and the Hungarian Legal System 1985-2005’ in András Jakab and others (eds), Transformation of Hungarian Legal Order 1985-2005 (Kluwer Law International 2007). Chapter VIII of Act II of 2007 on the Entry and Stay of Third-Country Nationals and Chapter VIII of its Implementing Government Decree No. 114/2007 (V.24.) (These legal texts can be accessed free of charge – only in Hungarian though – via www.njt.hu). For a detailed analysis see: Tamás Molnár, ‘Statelessness Determination Procedure in Hungary’ (2013) 4 Asiel and Migrantenrecht 271. Such procedures exist also, for instance, in Belgium, France, Italy, and Spain (source: proceedings of the UNHCR Practitioner Seminar on Statelessness and National Procedures of 5 July 2011, Brussels). Outside the EU, the Philippines or Moldova has just recently put in place such a procedure. UNHCR, ‘Guidelines on Statelessness No. 2: Procedures for Determining whether an Individual is a Stateless Person’ (5 April 2012, HCR/GS/12/02) <www.refworld.org/ docid/4f7dafb52.html> accessed 15 September 2013. tilburg law review 19 (2014) 194-202