vulnerabilities of stateless people are not addressed.44 In 2021, an estimated 30 persons with an ’unknown nationality’ entered immigration detention.45 No current figures are available for the number of stateless persons in immigration detention. The absence of an SDP means it is unclear how many of those currently identified as ’nationality unknown’ are in fact stateless, which highlights the urgent need for an SDP to prevent prolonged and potentially arbitrary immigration detention. 27. The denial of a right of residence for stateless people, including children, endangers their right to a private life (Article 16 CRC and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights) and the principle of non-discrimination (inter alia Article 2 CRC and Article 24(1) ICCPR).46 It is also contrary to UNHCR guidance and Articles 2 and 5 ICERD, and prevents the Netherlands from fulfilling its international obligations to stateless persons.47 It is also contrary to the Netherlands’ international obligations to reduce statelessness (Article 31 of the 1954 Convention) because access to naturalisation is contingent on a period of lawful residence. While the 1954 Convention does not explicitly require States to grant stateless people a residence permit, UNHCR has noted that granting such a permit would be consistent with the object and purpose of the Convention. The granting of a residence permit would allow full access to the rights enshrined in the 1954 Convention and, in practice, is required for States to comply with their international obligations to protect and respect the rights of stateless people.48 28. Currently, stateless persons without lawful stay are often forced to make use of the ‘nofault procedure’. This procedure is designed for people without permission to stay in the Netherlands, but who cannot leave the territory through no fault of their own. If it is proven they cannot leave the Netherlands due to no fault of their own, a one-year renewable residence permit may be granted. However, this procedure has been strongly criticised due to its one-sided and stringent burden of proof, its low approval rate, of the lack of any determination of statelessness in the decision-making process, and subsequent difficulty in invoking the rights enshrined in the 1954 Convention. The immigration authorities have significant discretionary powers to determine whether a person has sufficiently collaborated with the competent authorities to leave the country, and it remains unclear which criteria must be met to prove that a person has done everything they can to leave the country but cannot through no fault of their own.49 29. Both UNHCR and the Dutch Advisory Council on Migration (ACVZ) recommend that the Dutch Government provides a right of residence to applicants under the SDP, and a 44 European Network on Statelessness & ASKV Refugee Support, Protecting stateless persons from arbitrary detention in the Netherlands, 2015, https://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/ENS_Detention_Reports_Netherlands.pdf European Network on Statelessness, Protecting Stateless Persons from Arbitrary Detention: An Agenda for Change, 2017, https://www.statelessness.eu/updates/publication/protecting-stateless-persons-arbitrary-detention-agenda-change; European Network on Statelessness, Protecting Stateless Persons from Arbitrary Detention: a Regional Toolkit for Practitioners, 2017, https://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/ENS_Detention_Toolkit.pdf 45 See https://data.overheid.nl/dataset/immigratie-nationale-politie-vreemdelingenbewaring-instroom#panel-resources 46 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, Articles 2 and 16 47 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons; UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons, 2014, https://www.unhcr.org/uk/protection/statelessness/53b698ab9/handbook-protection-stateless-persons.html; 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Article 5 48 UNHCR Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons, para. 147-148, https://www.unhcr.org/dach/wpcontent/uploads/sites/27/2017/04/CH-UNHCR_Handbook-on-Protection-of-Stateless-Persons.pdf. 49 For example, see https://www.adviescommissievoorvreemdelingenzaken.nl/publicaties/publicaties/2013/7/1/waar-een-wilis-maar-geen-weg and https://www.vluchtelingenwerk.nl/sites/default/files/Vluchtelingenwerk/Publicaties/images/DEF_VWN%20Rapport%20Buiten %20Schuld_LR.pdf 9