International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED) (see Article 25). 5. Belgium is also party to regional treaties or declarations, including the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) and the European Social Charter (ESC). It is however not a party to the European Convention on Nationality nor the 2006 Council of Europe Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in Relation to State Succession. 6. Belgium is a party to the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons (1954 Convention) and to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (1961 Convention).9 However, Belgium has reservations to the 1961 Convention.10 Regarding Article 2, Belgium considers that the category of “foundlings” concerns children who are believed to be new-born. Regarding Article 8(3), Belgium reserves the right to deprive a person of Belgian nationality if it was not acquired by virtue of a Belgian individual on the date of birth, or was not granted under the Belgian Nationality Code; and also in cases of fraud in the acquisition of Belgian nationality, violation of duties as a Belgian citizen, or sentencing of at least five years for a number of criminal offences. 7. In 2012, UNHCR made a number of important recommendations to Belgium as part of its mapping study on statelessness in Belgium. In 2014, UNHCR issued their Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons11 intended to guide government officials, judges and practitioners, as well as others involved in addressing both statelessness determination and the development and implementation of law and policies relating to the protection of stateless persons. UNHCR’s most recent recommendations to Belgium highlight the need to strengthen the protection of stateless persons, including by granting a temporary residence permit to applicants pending the statelessness determination procedure (SDP), a resident permit to recognised stateless persons, and introducing an SDP in law with full procedural safeguards.12 Stateless Population Data 8. States should collect reliable quantitative and qualitative data on statelessness and adopt and strengthen measures to count stateless persons on their territory. 13 The stateless population has never been comprehensively mapped in Belgium, and available data is fragmented.14 On 1 January 2019, there were 926 people registered as “stateless” in the national registry including 180 asylum seekers and 746 stateless persons who have been issued a long-term residence permit (e.g. on grounds of family reunification). On 1 9 The 1954 Convention entered into force in Belgium in 1960 and the 1961 Convention in 2014. UN Treaty Collections, Status of Treaties, https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=V4&chapter=5&clang=_en#EndDec 11 UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons, 2014 http://www.unhcr.org/uk/protection/statelessness/53b698ab9/handbook-protection-stateless-persons.html 12 UNHCR, Améliorer la protection des réfugiés et des apatrides en Belgique et dans le monde, Mémorandum du HCR, August 2019, available at https://www.unhcr.org/be/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2019/09/M%C3%A9morandum-2019-HCRAm%C3%A9liorer-la-protection-des-r%C3%A9fugi%C3%A9s-et-des-apatrides-en-Belgique-et-dans-le-monde.pdf 13 Conclusions of the Council of the European Union and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States on Statelessness, 4 December 2015, http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2015/12/04/council-adoptsconclusions-on-statelessness/ 14 Belgian authorities acknowledge that identification of the nationality may pose an acute problem in some cases. See Office des Étrangers, Statistiques annuelles 2018, p. 51, https://dofi.ibz.be/sites/dvzoe/FR/Documents/Statistiques/Statistiques%20sur%20les%20cartes%20et%20documents%202018 %20v3%20FR.pdf 10 3