Existing Statelessness determination procedure Of the countries that have SDPs in place, the laws of at least 14 contain a provision providing for a right to stay for the duration of the procedure.24 In May 2020, UNHCR published the paper “The Impact of COVID-19 on Stateless Populations: Policy Recommendations and Good Practices”25 which includes some of the above-mentioned good practices. 3. Coordinating refugee status and statelessness determinations Where applicants raise both a refugee and a statelessness claim, it is important that each claim is assessed and both types of status are explicitly recognized. This is for a number of reasons: protection under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees generally gives rise to a greater set of rights at the national level than that provided under the 1954 Convention. Furthermore, in some cases substantiating a statelessness claim may require consulting with foreign authorities. However, under no circumstances should contact be made with authorities of a State where an individual alleges a well-founded fear of persecution unless it has definitively been concluded that he or she is neither a refugee nor entitled to a complementary form of protection. A number of States coordinate refugee status determination and statelessness determination by suspending the SDP until the final decision on the application for international protection has been made. For instance, in Bulgaria, the SDP is suspended until the final ruling on any application for international protection, unless it is possible to determine the applicant’s statelessness without consulting the authorities in the country of origin or habitual residence. Then, in the case of a final decision of refusal, withdrawal or cessation of refugee or humanitarian status, or discontinuation of the international protection procedure, the SDP may be resumed after the applicant requests it in writing. 24 These include: Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Georgia, Kosovo (S/RES/1244 (1999)), Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Panama, Paraguay, the Philippines, Turkey and Uruguay. 25 UNHCR, 11 May 2020, The Impact of COVID-19 on Stateless Populations: Policy Recommendations and Good Practices, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5eb2a72f4.html 14 U N H C R > G P P AC T I O N 6 : E S TA B L I S H I N G S TAT E L E S S N E S S D E T E R M I N AT I O N P R O C E D U R E S