naturalisation. 33. The Romani community is significantly impacted by the failure to adequately identify and determine statelessness, which impacts on their access to naturalisation. It has been reported that some stateless Romani people are registered as having ‘unknown nationality’, which means they must produce a foreign passport (as well as a birth certificate) when applying for naturalisation – an unreasonable impediment to naturalisation for stateless people. Those affected include Roma who were granted residence status in the Netherlands in 1977/78 and who are still unable to access Dutch nationality, some of them having lived lawfully in the country for over 40 years.53 These problems are compounded by antigypsyism (discrimination against Romani people), a lack of consultation with Roma representatives on the problems encountered in relation to their registration status and statelessness, and the failure to recognise the Roma as a national minority in the Netherlands. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has issued several recommendations to the Netherlands to address this issue, which have not yet been implemented.54 34. Another group of stateless persons in the Netherlands who are disproportionately affected by barriers to naturalisation are Bhutanese refugees who were resettled in the country from 2009. 55 Although most Bhutanese refugees in the Netherlands were successful in acquiring Dutch nationality, some community members have been denied Dutch nationality on the grounds that they could not fulfil the language criteria, and therefore remain stateless. This requirement is particularly difficult to meet for Bhutanese refugees who are elderly and have never been to school, who are therefore unable to participate in the integration course, which is mandatory for acquiring Dutch nationality. 35. A further group at risk is victims of human trafficking, who, due to confiscation of their documents by their traffickers and inability to contact their countries of origin for new documents, may be unable to prove their identity and/or nationality status.56 36. A recently adopted government policy to waive the passport and birth certificate requirements for people granted an amnesty under the ‘General Pardon’ of 2007 has not been extended to other groups who face similar obstacles, including Romani people, Bhutanese refugees, victims of trafficking, and other people who are stateless or at risk of statelessness in the Netherlands.57 If a similar exemption were granted to people who lack identity documents, this would significantly reduce and prevent statelessness in the Netherlands and provide a durable solution for the many individuals affected. 53 Advisory Committtee on Migration Affairs (ACVZ), Geen land te bekennen, 2013, p. 32-33 [please note that the specific information on Roma statelessness in the Netherlands is only provided in the Dutch-language version of the report and not in the shorter English translation]. 54 UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), Concluding observations on the combined nineteenth to twenty-first periodic reports of the Netherlands, 24 September 2015, CERD/C/NLD/CO/19-21, para. 20; UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), Concluding observations on the combined twenty-second to twenty-fourth periodic reports of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, 16 November 2021, CERD/C/NLD/CO/22-24, para 32. 55 Ram Karki, ‘Statelessness among resettled Bhutanese refugees in Europe: An unresolved problem;, ENS Blog, 10 June 2021: https://www.statelessness.eu/updates/blog/statelessness-among-resettled-bhutanese-refugees-europe-unresolved-problem 56 Stateless Journeys, https://statelessjourneys.org/resources/statelessness-and-refugees-in-thenetherlands/#:~:text=Naturalisation%20There%20is%20a%20limited%20facilitated%20naturalisation%20procedure,which%20c annot%20be%20met%20by%20many%20stateless%20people. This may seem like a low turnout, however, other requirements such as naturalisation fees are still applicable and can be as high as EUR 945 per person. This can cause delays in people applying. 57 Dutch Refugee Council, Breaking: álle 10.000 pardonners krijgen een Nederlands paspoort, 7 July 2021, https://www.vluchtelingenwerk.nl/nieuws/breaking-alle-10000-pardonners-krijgen-een-nederlands-paspoort 11