So far, only the ECHR has as such been incorporated in Danish law.152 Danish governments have not been in favor of incorporating further human rights conventions in Danish law. One of the arguments is that it may displace competence from the Parliament to the courts.153 Still, in today’s practice unincorporated conventions to which Denmark is a party are also considered as relevant sources of law that can be invoked before law-applying authorities. Harmony of norms is ascertained and the authorities will, as a point of departure, interpret Danish law in accordance with Denmark’s international obligations, presuming that the Parliament has not intended to legislate in contravention of Denmark’s international obligations. The authorities will seek to avoid breaches of Denmark’s international obligations. This presumption of conformity is only deviated from insofar as (hypothetically) it clearly appears that the Parliament with firm intention has legislated or will legislate in contravention of Denmark’s international obligations. The Aliens Act was not amended when Denmark ratified the 1954 Convention, as harmony of norms was ascertained.154 Thus, the authorities will, as far as possible, interpret Danish law in accordance with the country’s obligations under the Convention, as explained above. The Immigration Service and other Danish authorities, among others Statistics Denmark, use the definition of a stateless person of the 1954 Convention. The definition appears from information material on access to an alien’s passport, and in the alien’s passports, there is an explicit reference to the definition of the 1954 Convention.155 To what extent Denmark in practice meets the obligations of the Convention will be discussed in the following sections. 3.3 Statelessness determination procedure or other procedures in which statelessness status is determined Although the 1954 Convention does not spell out specific determination processes, procedural safeguards must assure fair and efficient determination procedures. First, the procedure must be accessible to stateless persons, including non-returnable persons in detention. This includes a state’s obligation to disseminate information and to ensure that stateless persons become aware of determination mechanisms and feel comfortable accessing them. Determination mechanisms should be available to all persons within the territory, and there should be no requirement that a person be lawfully resident within the territory, as stateless persons normally have great difficulty in securing the documentation that is necessary to reside in a state lawfully. There is also no basis in the convention to set time limits for individuals to claim statelessness status.156 Further, pending the outcome of the determination procedure, individuals awaiting a statelessness determination should not be expelled from the State where the procedure is ongoing.157 As already mentioned, in Denmark most questions on statelessness arise in a migratory context. Consequently, the Danish Immigration Service has taken responsibility for identification, registration and/or determination of statelessness.158The Immigration Service’s Country of Origin Information Division does not only engage in country related inquiries, but may also engage in examination of individual statelessness cases. The Division provides the other divisions of the Immigration Service with background information; it does not itself make conclusions 44 152 In December 2012, the government set up an expert committee on incorporation of human rights conventions; the work of the committee was completed in August 2014. A report of the work, Ministry of Justice, ‘Betænkning 1546 om inkorporering mv. inden for menneskeretsområdet’, August 2014, is available at: https://bit.ly/39GFaiM. 153 For more information on the decision of the government in 2014, see the newspaper article ‘Regeringen: Konventioner bliver ikke en del af dansk lov’ in Information, 22 November 2014, available at: http://www.information.dk/516618. 154 The Convention was ratified according to a Royal Resolution of 31 December 1955, cf. regulation of 17 January 1956. 155 See information on passports for foreign nationals on New to Denmark, available at: https://bit.ly/2OZdZpK. 156 UNHCR Handbook, paras. 68-70. 157 Ibid, paras. 72 and 145. See also infra Section 3.4 for a discussion of other provisions relating to expulsion. 158 See information about the registration of personal information, including statelessness, on New to Denmark, available at: https://bit.ly/39znTaW. Mapping Statelessness in Denmark