“States' obligations to ensure equality and non-discrimination with regards to the enjoyment of nationality apply with regard to all citizenship deprivation decisions, not only in cases where deprivation of citizenship might result in statelessness.”41 30. The impact of nationality deprivation on the enjoyment of other human rights, humanitarian and refugee law obligations and standards must be taken into consideration when assessing the legality of citizenship deprivation. These include the right to enter and remain in one’s own country, the prohibition of refoulement, the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the liberty and security of the person, the right to private and family life, legal personhood and the rights of the child.42 Any measures to deprive a person of nationality must also comply with due process safeguards and the right to a fair trial.43 Recommendations 31. Based on the above information, the co-submitting organisations urge reviewing States to make the following recommendations to Belgium: I. Fully promote, respect, protect and fulfil its obligations towards stateless persons and the right to a nationality under international human rights law. II. Develop a dedicated statelessness determination procedure and protection status in law and in line with UNHCR guidance44 and good practices. Ensure that the procedure is fair, effective and accessible to all persons in Belgium regardless of their legal status. This includes funded access to interpreting services and legal aid. The procedure should comply with international standards of due process and follow the procedural safeguards. III. Take concrete steps to improve the recording of statelessness, namely by harmonising quantitative data on stateless persons and ensuring that the statistical categories cover the entire stateless population in Belgium, including stateless people in immigration detention and removal procedures. IV. Publish annual reliable, transparent and comparable statistics of judicial decisions on stateless status determination, on the number of applications for leave to remain made by recognised stateless people, as well as the number of decisions and types of residence permits granted by the Immigration Office. V. Improve the identification of persons at risk of statelessness in removal procedures and detention centres, including through staff training, and ensure access to the statelessness determination procedure. 41 UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, ‘ Amicus Brief before the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service’ (23 October 2018). 42 Principles on Deprivation of Nationality as a National Security Measure, March 2020. Available at: https://files.institutesi.org/PRINCIPLES.pdf, Principle 9. 43 Ibid Principle 8. 44 Please see UNHCR’s Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons available at: https://www.unhcr.org/dach/wpcontent/uploads/sites/27/2017/04/CH-UNHCR_Handbook-on-Protection-of-Stateless-Persons.pdf. 9