Introduction 1. The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion1 makes this submission in advance of UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance’s (hereinafter SR Racism) visit to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This submission focuses on deprivation of nationality, the right of every child to a nationality and discrimination against stateless persons in the territory of the Kingdom in Western Europe (hereinafter the Netherlands). The Netherlands’ International obligations 2. The Netherlands ratified the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness in 1962 and 1985 respectively. It ratified the European Convention on Nationality in 2001. The Netherlands has international obligations to protect the right to a nationality and protect the rights of stateless persons on the basis of other UN and regional treaties to which it is a party, including among others the ICCPR (article 24), CRC (articles 2, 3, 7 and 8), CEDAW (article 9), ICERD (article 5(d)(iii)) and CRPD (article 18). Deprivation of nationality 3. Since 2010, there has been a gradual expansion of the powers to revoke nationality under the Dutch Nationality Act (DNA), with new grounds added in 2010, 2016 and 2017. The most recent of these amendments allows for the revocation of nationality without the need for a criminal conviction, if a person voluntarily enters the foreign military service of a State involved in hostilities against the Netherlands (article 14(3)) or joins an organization that is listed as constituting a threat to national security (article 14(4)).2 4. Only dual nationals may be subject to deprivation of nationality under the aforementioned provisions. In an amicus brief issued in October 2018, the SR Racism raised concern that this policy discriminates between mono- and dual citizens, and disproportionately affects dual nationals of “non-Western origin” – in particular Dutch-Moroccan and Dutch-Turkish dual nationals.3 She recommended that the Netherlands review, without delay, the policy of nationality revocation as a counterterrorism measure, in light of the credible evidence that it is in violation of ICERD and other international legal obligations because it has “the effect of creating or perpetuating racial discrimination”.4 5. In April 2019, the National Coordinator of Counterterrorism and Security reported that between December 2017 and March 2019, the Dutch Minister of Justice and Security had revoked the 1 ISI is an independent non-profit organisation dedicated to fostering more inclusive societies by promoting and protecting the right to a nationality. Since its establishment in 2014, ISI has made over 50 country specific UPR submissions on the human rights of stateless persons, and made active contributions to the CEDAW, CRC, CMW and various Special Mandate Holders. For more information about the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, see: www.institutesi.org. 2 https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/stb-2017-52.html. 3 https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Racism/SR/Amicus/DutchImmigration_Amicus.pdf. 4 ICERD Article 2(1)(c).