THE BROADENING PROTECTION GAP FOR
STATELESS PALESTINIAN REFUGEES IN BELGIUM
WOUT VAN DOREN, * JULIE LEJEUNE, ** MARJAN CLAES ‡ AND VALÉRIE KLEIN ‡‡
This paper reflects upon the issue of statelessness, Palestinians and a recent evolution of Belgian
caselaw. When seeking to apply the definition of a ‘stateless person’, as found in art 1 of the 1954
Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons to Palestinians, judges are confronted with
specific challenges. Since 2016, divergent standards are developing as to the question of whether,
and in which circumstances, Palestinians may be stateless for the purposes of international law.
This evolution takes place in a national landscape characterised by a statelessness determination
procedure that falls short of standards set out in the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons in a number of areas, while a growing
number of asylum seekers originating from Palestine are registered over the period 2016–19. This
paper exposes, anno 2020, the protection gaps left open by the remarkably divergent approaches
to this question taken by the different national actors involved.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction........................................................................................................... 301
Who are the “Palestinians” Arriving in Belgium? ................................................ 302
Assessment of the Statelessness of Palestinians by Different Belgian
Authorities ............................................................................................................ 303
A The Family Tribunals, Courts of Appeal, and the Court of Cassation
in the Framework of the Statelessness Determination Mechanism .......... 303
1
The Mechanism for Determination of Statelessness in
Belgium ........................................................................................ 303
2
Application of the Definition of a Stateless Person to
Palestinians................................................................................... 305
3
Application of the Exclusion Clause ............................................ 308
B The Civil Registrars and the Ministry of Justice in the Framework of
Prevention of Statelessness at Birth ......................................................... 309
1
The Safeguard for Prevention of Statelessness at Birth ............... 309
2
Application of the Safeguard to Palestinian Children .................. 309
3
The Asylum Authorities ............................................................... 310
Protection Gaps Resulting from the Diverging Approaches ................................. 313
*
**
‡
‡‡
Wout Van Doren is a Belgian lawyer specialised in migration, refugee, and nationality law,
with a particular interest in statelessness. He has conducted research and advocacy activities
regarding statelessness in Belgium as a consultant for the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugee’s Regional Representation for Western Europe. He also teaches Human Rights
Law at the Faculties of Law of the Universities of Leuven and Hasselt.
Julie Lejeune is Director of NANSEN, the Belgian Refugee Council. Through various
positions she has gained extensive experience involving legal support to individuals, technical
legal analysis, advocacy and capacity building of legal professional in human rights,
international protection and statelessness related issues. She was a member (2015–20) of the
Management Board of the European Agency for Fundamental Rights.
Marjan Claes is a legal officer at NANSEN, the Belgian Refugee Council, specialising in
asylum and detention. She has extensive experience in the legal support of Palestinian asylum
cases and has published regularly on this topic over the last 10 years.
Valérie Klein is a legal officer at NANSEN, the Belgian Refugee Council, specialising in
asylum and detention. Within NANSEN she is also in charge of the issues related to
statelessness. Before joining NANSEN, she worked as lawyer and specialised in immigration
law.