144. The right to a nationality is a positive right. It is in this regard important to reiterate that States ought not to unilaterally ascribe a nationality to an individual if the presumed country of nationality has previously denied that a bond of citizenship exists. If the person concerned does not have the nationality of any other State, he or she is stateless and should benefit from all rights laid down in the 1954 Convention. 145. Secondly, the research shows that the implementation of Article 1 of the 1961 Convention – which aims at the prevention of statelessness – is being made difficult by the requirement of lawful residence (toelating) in Article 6(1)b DNA. Since the Convention explicitly speaks of habitual residence, States party to that Convention are not allowed to require lawful residence. As the Summary Conclusions of the expert meeting in Dakar on preventing statelessness among children affirm, the “1961 Convention does not allow Contracting States to make an application for the acquisition of nationality of otherwise stateless individuals conditional on lawful residence”. The Conclusions also note that habitual residence “should be understood as stable, factual residence”.198 Similarly, the 2006 Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in Relation to State Succession provides that habitual residence means “a stable factual residence”. Habitual residence also refers to a factual situation in other fields of law, such as private international law. The clear wording of Article 1 of the 1961 Convention has been acknowledged by the District Court in Zwolle in September 2010. This court held that habitual residence refers to a situation where someone “has his or her lasting place of residence in the Netherlands and has developed a social life here”. 146. Thirdly, the reduction of cases of statelessness is an important area of focus for UNHCR. Although it can be questioned whether Article 32 of the 1954 Convention, which deals with naturalization, is sufficiently effective in reducing statelessness, it was seen that Dutch law complies with the Convention on this point. Dutch nationality law is also in accordance with the provisions concerning the loss of nationality of the 1961 Convention by taking as a starting point that loss of Dutch nationality cannot result in statelessness. The one exception to this principle, namely the rule that Dutch nationality can be revoked if it was acquired by fraud, is allowed under the 1961 Convention. 147. Lastly, the protection of stateless persons in the Netherlands is a major concern. This is related to the identification of those in need of protection and to the fact that even those who are, by one authority or another, deemed to be stateless do not enjoy all rights they ought to. The interviews conducted for this study reveal that numerous respondents face difficulties accessing essential healthcare and in acquiring means of identification (despite being legally present in the Netherlands) and that these two issues are often interlinked. In line with a recommendation made by the Ombudsman, UNHCR would propose that in a future statelessness determination procedure all claimants be provided with means of identification. Similarly, pending the no-fault procedure, applicants should be furnished with ID cards. Furthermore, incarceration in alien detention centres proved to be frequent and lengthy. The repetitive nature of the process – detention, absent prospect of deportation, release with an order to leave the country, arrest and potential declaration of undesirability for illegal presence, followed by renewed detention – is daunting. Some scholars have already identified this type of practice as inhuman and/or degrading treatment. The research found that psychological difficulties and complaints as a result of detention are widespread. 198 58  NHCR, “Interpreting the 1961 Statelessness Convention and Preventing Statelessness among U Children”, Summary Conclusions, Expert Meeting, Dakar, Senegal, Sept. 2011, available at http:// www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4e8423a72.html, para. 28. See also, G.-R. de Groot, “The acquisition of nationality by potentially stateless children: Observations on the Articles 1–4 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness”, UNHCR paper (forthcoming). Mapping statelessness