3. A DEMOGRAPHY OF STATELESSNESS
IN THE NETHERLANDS
30. Relatively few countries in the world have accurately identified the extent of statelessness
on their territories. From a 2004 UNHCR questionnaire sent out to 191 States it appeared
that only 45 per cent of the responding States had “general information available on the
potential number of stateless persons in their country”.39 With regard to the Netherlands,
which like a number of other States did not respond, it is this information gap that the
present chapter attempts to fill. A first section briefly recounts the Dutch historical
experience with issues related to statelessness, so that current data can be interpreted
in light of past events. The second section then provides an overview of the population
registration practice in the Netherlands and the third section presents all available statistical
material on statelessness in the Netherlands. A fourth and final section interprets these
findings and offers some concluding thoughts, also taking into account a number of indepth interviews with stateless persons.
3.1 A brief history of statelessness in the Netherlands
40
31. An early example of Dutch experience with statelessness dates back to 1892, when a
new Nationality Act replaced the more generous provisions of the 1838 Civil Code and
the special nationality law of 1850.41 The 1892 Act adopted the jus sanguinis a patre
principle, meaning that citizenship could only be conferred by a Dutch father to his
children. Until then Dutch nationality was acquired by birth on Dutch territory (jus soli),
including the colonies. Considering that only Dutch men could now pass on citizenship,
the government had to determine who exactly were citizens at that time, particularly in
the colonies. In the Dutch East Indies the government decided to attribute citizenship
along the lines of an already existing racial division, namely between “Europeans and
assimilated” (predominantly Christians) and “Natives and assimilated” (Arabs, Chinese,
Muslims and “pagans”).42 Due to their large numbers, the latter group was not granted
Dutch nationality and corresponding political rights, although inhabitants of smaller
colonies such as Suriname and the Antilles were allowed to retain their Dutch nationality.
As of that moment these “natives” in the Dutch East Indies were without nationality,
because as subjects of a colonial power they had no other State to turn to. However,
39
mphasis added. UNHCR, “Final Report Concerning the Questionnaire on Statelessness Pursuant
E
to the Agenda for Protection”, (2004), 5.
40
his section is primarily based on R. van Oers, B. de Hart, and K. Groenendijk, “Country Report:
T
The Netherlands”, EUDO Citizenship Observatory Country Reports (2010).
41
he nationality provisions of the 1838 Civil Code were used in matters concerning civil law,
T
while the nationality law of 1850 defined Dutch nationality for the exercise of civic rights. See O.
Vonk, Dual Nationality in the European Union. A Study on Changing Norms in Public and Private
International Law and in the Municipal Laws of Four EU Member States, Dissertation European
University Institute (Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Forthcoming), 145ff.
42
an Oers et al. citing E. Heijs, “Nederlanderschap in de Nederlandse Koloniën: Regulering van
V
immigratie vanuit de koloniën door nationaliteitsbeleid in Nederland”, Recht der Werkelijkheid 12,
no. 2 (1991), 24.
in the Netherlands
15