1.3.1 Defining “a stateless person” The definition of a “stateless person” is provided in Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention. The present report focuses on those persons falling under this definition.3 The Convention defines a stateless person as a “person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law”. According to the International Law Commission, this definition constitutes customary international law.4 “A national” refers to a formal bond between a person and the state, which does not have to be an effective or genuine link.5 To determine whether an individual is considered as a national or not, it is not only necessary to look at the nationality laws of the states to which a person might have links, but also to the practices of the states in applying or implementing those laws.6 Moreover, a person’s nationality must be assessed at the time of determination of eligibility under the 1954 Convention, which is neither a historic nor a predictive exercise.7 This means that for the determination whether a person is stateless it is not relevant that that person is in the process of naturalizing or has the option to acquire the nationality of a certain state. If at the time of the determination, that person is in the process of losing, being deprived of or renouncing a nationality, the person is still a national. Furthermore, when statelessness results from voluntary renunciation of nationality, the person may not be excluded from the protection of the 1954 Convention.8 In the context of Finland, the categories of persons defined as of “unknown nationality”, “nationality not known” and nationality “pending clarification” are also relevant when examining approaches and challenges related to statelessness, and will be explained in detail in the following sections. 1.3.2 Causes of statelessness Statelessness can be caused by numerous factors. Some of these factors are of a legal technical nature, where statelessness is caused by gaps in nationality laws or conflicts between nationality laws. A State determines through its national law which persons are or can become its citizens. Where a State’s nationality law is based on acquiring nationality by descent (jus sanguinis), a child born in that State from parents with a nationality of a country that is acquired through birth on the territory of that State (jus soli) would encounter problems in obtaining any nationality if the national legislation of these two countries does not contain any safeguards to protect the child from becoming stateless. Moreover, statelessness can occur later in life. Some legal systems provide for mechanisms of automatic loss of nationality, for example after a long absence from the country. States may also require that a person revokes his or her former nationality before acquiring the nationality of that State. Withdrawal of nationality may also lead to statelessness if there is no adequate safeguard in place to prevent statelessness. Another major cause of statelessness relates to the dissolution and separation of States, transfer of territory between States, and the creation of new states. In the period of decolonization, groups of persons may have been left out of the initial body of citizens under the nationality legislation of the newly independent state. 3 UNHCR, Expert Meeting: The Concept of Stateless Persons under International Law Summary Conclusions (Prato Conclusions), 27 May 2010 Prato, Italy, at 8 paras 11 and 12. The Handbook explains that “persons who fall within the scope of Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention are sometimes referred to as de jure stateless persons”, UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons, para 7. Individuals who have a nationality but are outside the country of their nationality and are denied diplomatic and consular protection accorded to other nationals by their state of nationality have been referred to as de facto stateless, please see the Prato Conclusions. The term de jure is not found in any international treaty and is not used in this report, yet it must be emphasized that the present report does not include de facto stateless persons. 4 ILC, Commentary on the Draft Articles on Diplomatic Protection (2006) p. 49, para 3 of the commentary, available at: http://untreaty.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/commentaries/9_8_2006.pdf 5 UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons, para 54. 6 UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons, 2014, available at: http://refworld.org/docid/53b676aa4.html, para 23-24. 7 UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons, para 50. 8 UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons, para 51. UNHCR STOCKHOLM, NOVEMBER 2014 9