evidentiary burden to register someone as stateless in the BRP and the absence of a uniform determination process, a widespread practice exists of registering children as ‘nationality unknown’. The Dutch Nationality Act does not stipulate acquisition of nationality by a child of "unknown nationality", therefore this practice directly impacts the child’s right to acquire a nationality as protected under Article 7 CRC. In its current form, the Dutch Nationality Act does not outline a specific procedure for the determination of a child’s nationality or statelessness or the identification of children as stateless for the purposes of accessing the ‘option procedure’ set out above. 20. The Dutch Government has been criticised for leaving children in limbo due to the lack of a clear procedure to determine their nationality or statelessness. In Denny Zhao v. the Netherlands, the UN Human Rights Committee 36 expressed their deep concerns regarding the registration procedure for children with “undetermined nationality” in the Netherlands. Denny Zhao was born stateless in Utrecht in 2010. However, because of bureaucracy and discrimination, Denny was unable to acquire Dutch nationality. In December 2020, the Human Rights Committee issued a ground-breaking decision on the right to Dutch nationality for Denny and other stateless children in the Netherlands. It found that the Netherlands violated Article 24 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Committee ruled not only that Denny Zhao’s case should be reviewed, but that the Dutch Nationality Act should be amended to avoid similar violations in the future.37 Issue II: Identification of stateless persons, determination of statelessness, and access to rights 21. The Netherlands presently does not have a dedicated mechanism to identify stateless persons on its territory, determine their statelessness, and facilitate their access to rights. The determination of statelessness is of absolute importance in guaranteeing the rights of stateless persons living in the country. Without early identification and formal determination of statelessness, stateless persons cannot enjoy their rights under the 1954 Convention and human rights instruments, including exemption from requirements which by their nature a stateless person is incapable of fulfilling. Given the barriers that stateless people face in accessing their rights, lack of identification and determination leads to discrimination in procedures relating to immigration and international protection status; limited protection from arbitrary detention; and barriers to family reunification, naturalisation, access to identity documents, and enjoyment of other human rights.38 22. Although the 1954 Convention does not specifically stipulate how statelessness should be determined, UNHCR guidance has confirmed that this is best fulfilled through a dedicated statelessness determination procedure (SDP) with the necessary safeguards and procedural guarantees.39 Establishing an SDP also helps States understand the issue of statelessness at national level, through the collection of data and information on 36 37 See: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26631&LangID=E. CCPR/C/130/D/2918/2016, . 38 UNHCR, Mapping Statelessness in the Netherlands, November 2011; Advisory Committee on Migration Affairs, No country of one’s own, 2013; ISI, ENS and ASKV, From Syria to Europe: Experiences of Stateless Kurds and Palestinian Refugees from Syria Seeking Protection in Europe, 2019. 39 UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons, 2014: http://www.unhcr.org/uk/protection/statelessness/53b698ab9/handbook-protection-stateless-persons.html. 7