31. According to Article 10 of the Czech Constitution, international treaties have primacy in
case of conflict with national legislation. International conventions on statelessness are
thus part of the Constitutional order of the Czech Republic. Therefore, under certain
circumstances, the absence of a legal status of persons recognised as stateless could be
overcome by direct application of the 1954 Convention. Nonetheless, the Czech
Republic does not fully implement its international obligations towards stateless
persons, which has a considerable impact on the effective realisation of their rights as
well as on the predictability and legality of administrative and judicial procedures which
lack clear legal guidelines. The Czech Republic also made reservations to Article 27 and
Article 28 according to which identity papers and travel documents shall be issued only
to stateless persons with a valid permanent residence in the Czech Republic.
Considering that permanent residence may only be obtained after completing five years
of legal residence in the country and applicants, amongst other prescribed conditions,
must have a valid passport in order to file the application, these reservations restrict
the scope of the rights that should be granted to stateless people, contravening the
object and purpose of the 1954 Convention. The Czech Republic made further
reservations providing that Article 23 on public relief and assistance and Article 24(1)(a)
on remuneration and working conditions shall be applied solely to the extent provided
by national legislation. All reservations to the 1954 Convention should be withdrawn.
Issue 2 – Liberty and security of the person and arbitrary
detention
Arbitrary detention of stateless persons
32. Stateless people face a heightened risk of arbitrary detention particularly where
procedural safeguards to identify and determine statelessness and related barriers to
removal are lacking.36 Moreover, arbitrary and disproportionately lengthy detention can
ensue when the particular vulnerabilities of stateless people are not addressed.37
According to international norms and standards, detention should be a measure of last
resort, used in exceptional cases and only justified where other less invasive or coercive
measures have been considered and found insufficient. The UN has called upon States
to adopt alternative measures to detention.38 Regarding immigration detention, powers
need to be provided for in law and restricted to purposes allowed under international
and European law.39 A proposed country of removal should be identified prior to
detention for removal and detention only maintained for as long as removal
arrangements are in progress and executed with due diligence.40 A maximum period of
detention should be set in law and upon expiry the detainee must be automatically
released. Judicial oversight of detention is necessary as well as access to legal
representation.41
36
European Network on Statelessness, Protecting Stateless Persons from Arbitrary Detention: An Agenda for Change, 2017
https://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/attachments/resources/ENS_LockeInLimbo_Detention_Agend
a_online.pdf
37 European Network on Statelessness, Protecting Stateless Persons from Arbitrary Detention: A regional toolkit for
practitioners, 2017 https://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/ENS_Detention_Toolkit.pdf
38 Article 9 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966; Article 5 of European Convention on Human Rights;
Article 15(1) of EU Returns Directive; UN General Assembly, Protection of migrants, A/RES/63/184 (2009).
39 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966: Articles 7 and 9(1). Repeated attempts to expel a person to a
country that refuses to admit them could amount to inhuman or degrading treatment.
40 European Convention on Human Rights, 1950: Article 5 (1). EU Returns Directive: Articles 15(1), 15(4) and 16(3).
41 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966: Article 9(4). European Convention on Human Rights, 1950: Article
5(4). EU Returns Directive: Articles 12, 13(3) and 15(5); HRC, Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (2010);
UNHCR, Detention Guidelines (2012); UNHCR, Handbook on Protection (2014).
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