Breaking the Presumption that must be considered by current and future SDP norms and their corresponding rules of application. In this regard, with the aim of sharing reflections and concerns, the present article has been divided into seven parts: Part I, this introduction; Part II identifies the SDP norms adopted by states as of 2020; Part III addresses the concept of statelessness, as recognised in the SDP norms adopted by states; Part IV presents the question of whether SDPs are applicable or not to in situ statelessness; Part V discusses how the stateless are presumed ‘foreign’ in SDP norms; Part VI describes eight SDP norms that establish a route of action where an applicant could be identified as a national of the country in which they have applied for a determination of their status; and Part VII consists of commentaries on these safeguards as good practices against the presumption that an SDP applicant is foreign. II IDENTIFYING THE SDP NORMATIVE FRAMEWORK AS OF 2020 Most of the existing formal SDP mechanisms have been adopted in Europe and the Americas. As of 2020, in the Americas, eight countries had adopted an SDP: Mexico was the first in 2012, then Costa Rica (2016), Brazil (2017), Ecuador (2017), Paraguay (2018), Uruguay (2018) and Panama and Argentina were the last in 2019, respectively. 14 In Europe, there are 13 countries: France was the first in 1952, 15 then Italy in 1994, Spain (2001), Latvia (2004), Hungary (2007), Moldova (2010), UK (2013), Georgia (2014), Kosovo (2015), Turkey (2016), 16 Bulgaria (2017), Montenegro (2018), and the last was Ukraine in 2020. In Asia, only one country, the Philippines (2012), has issued an SDP, while the first SDP in Africa was recently established by Côte d'Ivoire in 2020. 17 14 15 16 17 Neither the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights nor UNHCR recognise Colombia as having a formal SDP mechanism (see Good Practices Paper 2020 (n 1)). Circular No 168 (2017) (Colombia) (‘Circular No 168’) issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia was cited by the Constitutional Court of Colombia concerning the risk of statelessness for Venezuelan children born in Colombia from parents of irregular migratory status; the Court made reference to Circular No 168, considering the impossibility in material and political reasons for consulting the Venezuelan Consulate in Colombia concerning the nationality of children born in this country from Venezuelan parents. See Sentencia T-006/20: Derecho a la Nacionalidad de los Niños y Niñas Hijos de Extranjeros que se Encuentran en Riesgo de Apatridia en Colombia [Sentence T-006/20: Right to Nationality of Children of Foreigners who are at Risk of Statelessness in Colombia] (2020) (Constitutional Court of Colombia) <https://www.corteconstitucional.gov.co/Relatoria/2020/T-006-20.htm> (‘Sentence T006/20’). In 1952, France became the first country in the world to expressly adopt a formal law regulating an SDP distinct from their refugee statelessness determination procedure (‘RSD’). ‘French statelessness-specific protection mechanism (the oldest in the world) was created in 1953[sic], thus it actually pre-dates the 1954 Statelessness Convention’: Gábor Gyulai, ‘Statelessness in the EU Framework for International Protection’ (2012) 14(1) European Journal of Migration and Law 279, 290. See also Law No 1952-893 of 1952 Concerning the Creation of a French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (France). For the purposes of this article, Turkey will be considered as geographically in Europe, since it is part of the European Council and is a candidate for the European Union. See ‘Turkey// 47 States, One Europe’, Council of Europe (Web Page, 2019) <https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/turkey#:~:text=Turkey%20became%20the%2013th%20 member,Europe%20on%2013%20April%201950>; ‘Turkey: Membership Status’, European Commission (Web Page) <https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhoodenlargement/countries/detailed-country-information/turkey_en>. For a full list of these laws and their surrounding legal instruments, see Part IX: Table of SDP Laws. 63